Catharsis
by WaisetsuNingyou
Summary: Four years after Orochimaru's attack on Konoha, Akatsuki and Orochimaru remain unstopped, Sasuke has not yet returned to Konoha, and, on top of that, a war has broken out between the shinobi nations. Longer summary inside KakashiOC.
1. Kidnappings and War

**Catharsis  
**Four years after Orochimaru's attack on Konoha, Akatsuki and Orochimaru remain unstopped, Sasuke has not yet returned to Konoha, and, on top of that, a war has broken out between the shinobi nations, orchestrated by the efforts of the Akatsuki and fueled by the kidnappings of several members of kekkei genkai clans. In the effort to protect all of the kekkei genkai clans in the Fire Country, Team 7 is sent on a mission to bring back to Konoha and protect Fire Country's most vulnerable Bloodline limit. (Might be somewhat AU-ish, since I'm writing this as Kishimoto releases new chapters.)

**Rating:** R (for violence, language, and some sexuality)  
**Genre:** Action, romance, drama  
**Pairing(s):** Kakashi x OC, some Naruto x Sakura and Shikamaru x Temari  
**Disclaimer:** Naruto and all related characters do not belong to me; they are the property of Kishimoto Masashi, Shueisha, and Studio Pierrot in Japan.

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**Chapter 1.Kidnappings and War  
**While wrapping his cloak as tightly as possible around his body, a young Sand nin racked his brains as to why his home country, in all its desert glory, was _so god damn cold_ at night. He was sure his sensei had explained to him at least _once_ why the scorching day time temperatures dropped so dramatically once the sun set.

His entire being shivered involuntarily from the cold; his cloak was useful for blocking the dry desert winds in the day time, but completely useless against the frigid nighttime temperatures.

Great--not only was he hopelessly lost in the vast deserts of Kaze no Kuni, but he was freezing.

And, as the landscape gradually changed from rocky desert to a sparsely vegetated steppe, he realized he was past the Kaze no Kuni's borders as well--if not, very close to the borders.

Even better.

The Sand nin tried to keep his composure, but recent events ran through his head, making all his efforts to stay calm in vain. Anywhere within ten miles of country borders--_any_ country border--wasn't safe. The twenty-mile buffers that ran between two neighboring countries were no longer "no-man's land" as they had been in times of peace. In the recent months of war, they became the most dangerous areas for solitary shinobi, who could be captured and tortured for questioning or, if they were lucky enough, killed. Additionally, the country borders had also been the sites of a string of kidnappings, targeting those of Bloodline limit clans or clans with exclusive secret techniques.

The more the Sand nin thought about it, the worse the situation seemed to become: he was very cold, he was very lost, he was very near or past Kaze no Kuni's borders... and now, he had a very high chance of being kidnapped for who knew why. He wanted to groan loudly to himself in desperation, but snuffed out his despair before it could escape his lips, in case there was anyone near by that would be able to more easily discover him because of the noise.

No, it didn't matter whether or not he made any noise: if there were enemy shinobi somewhere, they didn't need any kind of noise to find him. His mere presence screamed out his location. There was nowhere to hide--unless you counted the ground, and he didn't know any techniques that would allow him to travel undetected underground. He didn't know any cloaking ninjutsu either. The only thing he could do at this point was turn back and stay on his guard 200, against the unseen enemies who probably had a better knowledge of the landscape and a larger store of ninjutsu to achieve their purposes.

He'd stood contemplating his possible fate for several minutes before he actually forced his legs, now merely petrified extensions of his body, to move and carry him back the way he had come. Despite his attempts to backtrack and to calm himself down, his fear had taken root and continued to grow rapidly. Events in his own life and the stories he heard or read from returning village shinobi or newspapers echoed and flashed through his mind.

"_... miracle that I managed to survive... but my..._"

"_... of Amaagari Forest ends in..._"

... smiled awkwardly to the newly promoted chuunin, shaking their...

"_... for you. Nagi, Shinichi, let's all go out to celebrate your teammate's..._"

... astir with the news that the oldest son and heir of the Genmou clan had been...

"_... careful and make sure you stay with..._"

... showed them the map of the country, pointing to...

A dry crunch under his foot brought him back to earth, his swimming thoughts running headlong into a wall. The young shinobi gulped; he didn't dare look down to see whatever caused that crunch. At the same time, he wanted to know for awareness's sake. Hesitantly, he looked down. He hoped it was just a dried up bunch of grass or root... His eyes met with bleached white bones, and for a moment, they widened, until he lifted his foot.

The Sand nin let out a heavy sigh of relief. It was only a lizard's skeleton he'd stepped on--it was already dead, completely harmless. The pitiful thing probably stayed out during the day for too long and baked itself in the hot sun. Relieved, he prepared to continue moving on when he realized something.

His footprints, which he'd hoped to use to retrace his steps, were nowhere to be found. How could they have disappeared? There was no wind to blow them away. The shinobi searched wildly around, darting around within thirty feet of the skeleton he'd stepped on. Where were his footprints that would be his path back to safety?

Confused and paranoid, he squatted down, holding his head in attempt to keep himself together. His fears told him he was trapped in a genjutsu, but he rejected that thought. The desert sand wasn't completely even, it was filled with little indents and grooves, like the sand on a beach. Perhaps in his frenzy, he'd simply mistaken his prints for those dents and grooves. Or maybe he was starting to become delirious: he hadn't eaten all day. It was said that humans started to go crazy when they didn't have food. But didn't that apply to more extended periods of time, like days as opposed to mere hours?

Running his hands through his hair, the shinobi finally stood up again. Surely, this recent war was unscrewing the nuts and bolts that held him together. He had a reason to be afraid because things were no longer as safe as they used to be. But, at the very least, he should have had some sort of composure. He knew he was currently very lacking in the said necessity, reducing his chances of finding his way back to as low as the possibility of the war ending at that very second.

He took a few minutes to calm himself down. Finally, courage replenished a little bit for the second time, he started off again. And then... _crunch_. It was another lizard skeleton. He rolled his eyes. Was it a new trend for lizards to accidentally commit suicide by cooking themselves in the daytime sun?

He took a few more steps. _Crunch._ What the hell, had he wandered into the site of a lizard suicide club? He looked down again. This time he froze.

The skeleton underneath his foot looked a lot like the skeleton he'd just stepped on and the one before that, the way they had broken when he stepped on them, how the other bones had scattered about. Slowly, he turned around to look behind him. He tried to take a gulp of cold night air, but it didn't fill his lungs. There were no baked lizard bones anywhere around him, except for the one underneath his foot. The prints of the last steps he had taken were not visible either.

His chest rose up and down erratically as he tried to grasp the situation. He took a few more steps, trying to shake his renewed fear off. _Crunch._ He looked down--another lizard skeleton that looked like the previous two.

Step, step, step, step, step, _crunch_. Again the same thing.

His knees began to shake. He hoped he was just going crazy; in this situation, it was the best thing that could happen to him. At least, he'd know that it was just a figment of his overactive imagination, rather than a reality--or an enemy genjutsu.

He tried to take a few more steps. Step, step, step, step, step, _crunch_. That damned lizard skeleton.

"I'm just going crazy," he muttered to himself shakily. "See, if I go in this direction, that won't happen."

He ran over in the opposite direction. Five foot steps later, and the snap of bones breaking underneath the bottoms of his shoes sounded. He tried it again, and again... the same thing happened each time. Why was it happening? What was going on?

The Sand nin began to run around anywhere, everywhere, if there was an escape from those five steps and the crunch that would follow. Step, step, step, step, step, _crunch_. Step, step, step, step, step, _crunch_. Step, step, step, step, step, _crunch_. Every time, he'd whirl around searching for the mass grave of lizards that he thought surrounded him. But no matter where he went, where he looked, it was always that one lizard skeleton on the ground.

He ran and ran. There was no escape, no lizard graveyard, and no footprints. Just that one sun bleached skeleton. He never felt such a feeling of hopelessness before. He didn't stop running, but there was always that damn skeleton under his foot, every five steps!

The Sand nin began to yell angrily at the ground as he tried to run away, cursing it for playing games with him, denouncing it for hiding his footprints. He yelled until he thought his lungs would burst from the combination of his shouting and running.

Finally, his legs felt like jelly and he stumbled to the ground. His eyes watered as sand flew into them, and he rubbed his eyes furiously as he rolled over on the sand. Tears ran down his eyes, stinging and burning, like miniature waterfalls. It took a few minutes before the sand and dust had most cleared out of his eyes, and he opened them painfully. He had no more energy to move, except for roll his head to the side to search for that lizard skeleton.

Slowly, he managed to open his eyes fully. There was something around him besides sand, but the tears in his eyes blurred his vision. He almost wished they didn't. Surrounding him were piles of broken lizard skeletons, whose heads simultaneously opened their wide, ugly mouths...

Two figures rose at his feet from the ground, sand cascading off of the tops of their heads as they came to the surface. A lanky young man covered in various tattoos and piercings tittered condescendingly at the unconscious form in front of him. He raised his eyebrow in concern at the desert within a thirty foot radius of the body, which was pockmarked with footprints on top of footprints. To the beautiful albino woman who stood next to him, he wondered aloud, "Don't you think you overdid that genjutsu, O-Hime? Judging from how he reacted to it, I'd have pissed my pants if I were the victim."

The woman tossed her silvery mane of hair and bent down to examine the Sand nin. "Hardly," she replied. "It's called capitalizing on a preexisting fear. My original genjutsu wasn't that bad. But his own imagination intensified it--and he made things a lot easier for us by running around so much that he passed out from exhaustion."

"Whatever." The man sucked thoughtfully on one of his snakebite piercings as he pulled out a small book from his supply sack. "This is a... Hayami kid. With the Doukuseichi kekkei genkai. Shall we take him back?"

"What do you think?" The albino woman picked up the limp form gingerly by the shoulders of his vest. "I'm glad we didn't have to retrieve the ones who can resist genjutsu, but we still get the ones who will poison you if you so much as touch them. How are we supposed to carry this boy back?"

"O-Hime, I'll take care of that troublesome task for you. But you'll have to lend me that fancy top layer of your robes if you want me to carry him back," offered the man full of piercings.

She pouted, holding her robes to her as if they'd fall off at any moment. "But this was a present," she protested, "a really expensive one, too."

"Then you can carry him yourself," the man shrugged. "You'll be more or less protected against contact with his skin thanks to that kimono you love."

For several moments, the albino woman considered her options. Finally, she grudgingly undid the sash around her waist and took off the top robe of her kimono, throwing it somewhat contemptuously to the tattooed man. He smiled at her. "There's a good girl."

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Naruto really wanted to throw up as he squatted against the trench wall with his head between his knees. Today's battle had been the most brutal of all the ones he'd participated in. The stench of blood and bodies had crossed the gap between "just deal with it" and "simply unbearable."

He looked up momentarily to see what else was going on. The first thing that caught his eye was Sakura, who was attending to the more severely injured shinobi. He couldn't help but admire how well she tolerated the gore that surrounded her, while he was sitting there ready to heave up his lunch, breakfast, his dinner from the night before, and maybe some of his organs, too. Not even all the ramen in the world could make him feel better after this battle. He'd probably throw those up, too.

"You alright there, Naruto?" asked Kakashi, who had stopped by next to him holding out a canteen of water. "Drink some water, kid. It'll make you feel better."

The blond Chuunin snatched the canteen as if he hadn't even touched a drop of water in centuries, and gulped it all down, causing Kakashi to raise his eyebrows in surprise. His former teacher wondered how badly the battle and its aftermath had affected his student--he'd never seen the goofy young man look so tense--or green--following a fight.

"So... anything new?" Naruto forced out, trying to make conversation. He needed anything to distract him from the smells, the sounds, and the sights.

Kakashi, despite knowing what Naruto didn't want to hear, informed him anyway: "We won the battle, but, given the casualties we might as well have lost it. Of the fifty we started out with, twenty-four men are dead or missing so far, and seventeen are injured." He took a deep breath through clenched teeth. "Unfortunately, Shikamaru's leading another mission; otherwise we'd have been able to minimize the casualties when the Oto-nin came to back up the Tsuchi-nin."

Naruto looked up at the sky morosely. "Things really got out of control, didn't they?"

Kakashi could only sigh. "This shouldn't have happened, but it did. Still, there's no use dwelling on the past. We'll just have to prepare ourselves better next time." The jounin dug through his pockets for a moment, then produced a folded up piece of paper, giving it to Naruto to read. "Get ready for another mission. Yamato, Sakura, you, and I will be heading to the south for a retrieval mission. Sakura already knows; we'll be leaving once she finishes taking care of the critically injured."

Without saying another word, Kakashi walked off. A little surprised by his former teacher's rather abrupt leave, Naruto almost forgot the small message Kakashi had given him, and it fell to the ground out of his hands. Yamato, who had just come by unknown to the blond, noticed the familiar slip of paper and picked it up. He held it in front of Naruto's nose and, breaking the boy's thoughts, alerted, "Naruto, you dropped the mission details."

"Huh?"

"The mission details, kid," repeated Yamato, a little impatiently. The ANBU agent had yet to figure out how the hell a teenager like him managed to learn the Rasengan, integrate wind chakra into the Rasengan--in short, how he managed to get so far as a ninja, when he had a tendency to lose track of important things.

"Oh, thanks, Yamato-taichou!" Naruto took the slip of paper from the older man's hands. Yamato still standing in front of him, Naruto read through the message.

**TEAM:** Hatake Kakashi (leader), Yamato, Haruno Sakura, Uzumaki Naruto  
**MISSION OBJECTIVE:** Escort Hibashira Aoi to Konohagakure no Sato  
**MISSION RANK:** A  
**MISSION INSTRUCTIONS:** Your team is to report to the Hibashira residence in the Hi no Kuni's capital. Present this message to the head of the family (Hibashira Keisuke) as proof of your mission. Hibashira Aoi will then be placed under your care and responsibility until your return to Konohagakure no Sato, where he will become a ward of the village government.  
**OTHER:** New leader designated for return journey from Azami Plain to Konohagakure will be Matsumoto Akira. Please take care of critically wounded prior to departure for this mission; afterwards, arrive in national capital as soon as possible.

"Yamato-taichou," Naruto asked, looking up from the slip of paper. "This is just an escort mission within the country borders. Why's the mission ranking so high?"

"Because of the wartime situation and the kidnappings that have occurred in other countries recently," replied Yamato. "The kidnappings of members of kekkei genkai clans or clans with secret techniques--a Sand nin of the Doukuseichi clan was actually reported missing recently, actually. If we're escorting this person to Konohagakure and this person will become a ward of the village government, I think we can safely assume that that's one of the pretexts for this mission."

Naruto nodded in acknowledgement, but one thing had bothered him: "What do you mean by 'one of the pretexts'? Are there any other reasons?"

Suddenly, Yamato rather unconvincingly exclaimed, "Oh, I hear my name being called. Excuse me, Naruto, but someone needs my assistance."

And, as unanticipated as Kakashi's exit, Yamato darted off. Obviously, there was something "secret" about this mission that only Kakashi and Yamato knew of. It bothered Naruto like an itch that he could not scratch. Did they know something about an obstacle to the mission that was even more dangerous than Naruto could imagine? (No, then the mission would be S-ranked.) Did the mission entail something inhumane happening to the to-be ward of the state? (No, then Tsunade baa-chan would have refused to let the mission through.)

A deep frown formed on Naruto's face. Grown-ups were _always_ hiding things from him; it really irritated him. He thought he was old enough to understand the matters that they considered "adult" or "mature." Maybe if he was a naive farm boy, it would have been understandable. But he was a shinobi--he'd seen and experienced most of the things the average man had seen and experienced, and then some.

The blond did not have any time to dwell anymore on this "injustice," however, somewhere beyond the trench, Kakashi was calling him to help collect extra weapons scattered around the battlefield.

Naruto groaned at this new task. He thought that Konoha's expenses were being paid for by some private corporation outside of the village. Did they have to be as stingy as they were, scavenging through battlefields for used kunai, shuriken, senbon, and what not?

Kakashi heard Naruto's complaints (which he had accidentally voiced out loud) and explained, "Just because the Niikura family is funding Konohagakure's part in the war doesn't mean we ought to waste material, Naruto. Weapons are reusable, so it's stupid to let them rust and go to waste on old battlefields."

"I know, but didn't that Niikura woman say that she'd spend as much money needed on Konoha's defense and offense?" grumbled Naruto, glumly picking through the blood-stained grass.

Wiping blood off of a tanto that had been embedded in an Oto-nin's chest on a clean patched of grass, Kakashi replied, "There's still a lot you need to understand. Just because the Niikura family is one of the richest in the world doesn't mean their pockets are bottomless. They have to spend a lot of money on maintaining their company as well, even more than before, now that the shinobi nations are at war. Even so, they still decided to take on Konoha as a beneficiary. Every cost--no matter how big or little--counts."

Well, maybe trying to recycle used weapons wasn't so bad anymore. Naruto had neglected to consider the needs of the family that funded the village he called home up until then. But maintaining a corporation and its security, _and_ lending its support to a shinobi village as well? It took up more money than Naruto knew he could make in a lifetime. Even Jiraiya, with all his sales from the Icha Icha series, couldn't afford such an expense. (Or maybe he could--he'd just have to stop spending so much on women and alcohol.)

Now that he'd resolved that issue with himself, the other question reemerged: What was the "big secret" about their upcoming mission?

Unfortunately for Naruto, Kakashi seemed to sense that he was going to ask a question he didn't really want to answer, and he ordered, "Less talk and more work. Sakura's working hard over there, we should too!"

As if to strengthen the fact that he would not divulge anything that Naruto didn't know to him, Kakashi continued his weapons scavenging as far away from his former student as possible. Defeated, Naruto gave up on the spot. Maybe some secrets just weren't worth finding out.

Oh... who really cared anyway? If it wasn't outlined in the mission information, then maybe whatever "secret" that Kakashi and Yamato knew was not vital to the completion of the mission. And, the blond decided, it wasn't really his place to be digging around for whatever thing was unknown to him anyway.

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**Author's Notes:** Wow, it's nice to be back writing fan fiction again! I have nothing to do aside from college apps--mine really aren't that bad, I've noticed--so I've been able to go back to writing _Catharsis_ again. This _Catharsis_ is the same as the one I originally wrote... kind of.

Looking back, I really didn't like the old story, which was becoming a long-winded, shallow romance fic. It was becoming far from what I wanted and originally intended, so I altered the plot so it'd become more action and main plot-oriented (keywords, "main plot"). However, since I am a hopeless romantic at heart, I am keeping the elements of romance in the story. This time I hope to try to have the romance weave itself into the "main plot," as opposed to go on a tangent with it, like I did before.

There are two versions of _Catharsis_: censored and uncensored. Because Fanfiction . net doesn't really allow anything beyond the M-rating, the furthest the version you're reading here will go is limey content, where I'll leave your imagination to determine the exact details of what characters are doing. But don't expect anything_ too_ sexual for a while, not until further into the story. If you want the uncensored version, it's up on AFF . net.


	2. A New Mission's Sudden Appearance

**Chapter 2.A New Mission's Sudden Appearance**  
Surrounded by towers of papers, save for a small opening at the very front of her desk that allowed her to receive visitors, Tsunade handed a message back to Temari, who looked weary and harassed. The Godaime looked sympathetically at the young blond kunoichi. It was a shame how war drained the color and energy of even those who were at the prime of their life.

"Thank you for sending me the report, and tell Gaara 'thank you' for organizing all the data," she said, gratefully. "Konoha is grateful for Sunagakure's help in this war."

Temari tipped her head in respect, and replied, "We're hoping that Hi no Kuni doesn't have to go through the same thing as Suna. Five of our six most prominent clans have are missing members. My bro--I mean, Gaara-sama--was considering restricting the mission activity of the remaining members, but... we need as many skilled people to fight in the war as possible."

Tsunade cocked her eyebrow. "That's understandable. The Ayase clan hasn't been touched?"

Temari shook her head. "But... you do have members of their blood in Hi no Kuni, don't you?" she asked, looking worried. "And, as you said, Team Kakashi is heading to Hi no Kuni's capital, where they live. If you'll let me, I can rendezvous with them in the capital to relay a message to that family. Sunagakure will offer them protection, if they consent to it."

Tsunade chuckled, "That's a kind offer, but Konoha's asked them to move to Konohagakure several times already--ever since third or fourth kidnapping--and the head of the family flat-out refused. I'm well-acquainted with her; she's not the kind of person to back down and live in fear, and she's passed it down to her children. That said, she has four children--two of them married with kids on the way, and twins who are getting ready to enter university. She wouldn't want to disrupt their lives."

"She at least knows about the war between the shinobi villages?" inquired Temari.

"What do _you_ think?" Tsunade joked, taking a packet from the top of one of the mountains of paper. "She's the one who forcefully offered to pay for Konoha's war expenses."

"I see." There was nothing else to discuss or deliver, so Temari bowed to Tsunade. "Sureishimasu. I'll be returning to Sunagakure."

"Very well, then. Be careful going back."

"Thank you for your concern."

When Temari exited the Godaime's office, she found a certain young man sitting on the floor against the wall, puffing away at a cigarette. The blond kunoichi cleared her throat, then leaned over to pluck the cigarette away from his lips. He turned his head lazily to look at her, a mildly sour expression on his face. "What'd you do that for?"

"Shikamaru, don't smoke around the Hokage's office," Temari scolded. "It's rude."

He glared at her for a few seconds. It wasn't just the Hokage's office that she said not to smoke in: it was also the yakiniku restaurant, the teahouse, the shinobi lounge, the local park, and so many other places. When she returned the glare with her deep turquoise eyes, Shikamaru grudgingly muttered, "Alright, alright."

He picked himself up and followed the Sand nin out of the top floor of the Hokage's residence to the stairs outside. The pair descended in silence, but just before they reached the bottom, Shikamaru asked, "You're going back to Sunagakure?"

Temari looked back at Shikamaru. "Yes. I can't stay here forever," she said, matter-of-factly. Then, noting a look in Shikamaru's eyes that only she would have been able to read, she teased, "Are you going to miss me?"

They continued walking together, Shikamaru a few feet behind Temari. The pair spoke very little, save for a stray comment or two about the whether or how delicious the smells coming from Konoha's restaurants were, despite the long walk from the Hokage's home to the village gates. If they passed any one of their acquaintances, the two would only give a short wave and a smile before continuing on their way.

As they neared the village entrance, Shikamaru lit another cigarette. This time, Temari didn't even stop to take it out of his mouth or even reprimand him.

Finally, they reached the gates, and spoke to each other.

"You--"

"I'm--"

They paused, having just tried to speak at the same time. Shikamaru exhaled a puff of smoke, nodding, "Ladies first."

Temari waved off the cloud of smoke, her eyes watering. She warned with a simultaneously matronly and cheeky air, "If you come crying and wheezing to me when your lungs break down one day, I'm only going to say 'I told you so.'"

Cigarette in between his teeth again, Shikamaru snorted wryly, "Right. Like I'd go to you for help in that matter."

"You know I'd try to help you out anyway whether or not you come to me," the young woman retorted playfully. "Konoha and Suna need smart strategists around, and I need someone worth fighting, no matter how lazy he might be."

The corner of Shikamaru's lip twitched in an effort to keep himself from smiling. "I don't need another woman nagging at me, but the same to you," he said, coolly. "Do us all a favor and try to keep that beast of a fan hidden will you? Everyone knows about your fighting abilities and your relation to Gaara. Someone might try to capture you and hold you hostage or something."

"Excuse me, but that won't happen to me," Temari confidently declared. "So you can fill your head with all sorts of new strategies so we can win this war instead of thoughts about what might happen to little old me."

Shikamaru only rolled his eyes and muttered something about Temari being an "overconfident nuisance of a woman," but stopped when he felt something brush his sleeve. It was Temari, whose hand floated nervously by his arm. Tentatively, she tugged his sleeve, holding it between her thumb and her forefinger. A little more gently, she reaffirmed, "I'll be fine."

Shikamaru searched his head for how to react for several moments, finally settling on nodding dumbly. He was about to speak, when Temari cut him off again, by plucking the cigarette out of his mouth. Reverting back to her usual self, she scoffed, "You smoke like a chimney pipe. See you later."

Without further hesitation, Temari headed off. Shikamaru watched her back until she rounded the bend that lead westward and disappeared into the thick woods that surrounded the hidden village. He turned around, lighting another cigarette as he headed back to the Hokage's office. If only there were solid strategies that could effectively deal with women--unfortunately, most, if not all, women were far too volatile for even the most brilliant strategies. But maybe it was better that way.

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Naruto's jaw dropped--he had never seen a house that big or rich-looking. It put the feudal lords' homes he had seen to shame. It had a massive wall enclosing it and the lush grounds that surrounded it. Leading up to the front door was a path covered with smooth pebbles and flanked with dozens of beautifully carved lanterns on both sides, casting a soft amber glow in the dark. Around them, the grounds were literally a flowering garden, dotted with wisteria and cherry blossom trees at strategic points, as well as a winding man-made stream and its several elegant bridges.

The four crossed over one of the bridges, and Naruto only gaped even more at the decadence of the property. Whoever did the landscaping for the house deserved a cookie.

No, make that a _thousand_ cookies.

Lily pads and their flowers were scattered about the stream, above them was a flock of black and white swans, below them swam vibrantly colored carp, all very fat and round.

Sakura was just as amazed by the home as Naruto, though her excitement was far less dumbfounded than his. Instead of walking numbly with her jaw hanging near her feet, she had struck up a very lively conversation with the portly butler that had greeted them at the gate's entrance. "I've never seen those kinds of lilies before."

"Because they're not available in this continent," the butler explained, "much of the plant life in the grounds were originally strains that didn't come from this country. The lilies were imported from a continent in the west. The wisteria trees are from Kusa no Kuni. And, afterwards, they were often modified to better suit this region's climate and the animals that would live amongst them, such as the swans and the carp."

"How long did it take to do all that?" Sakura asked, slightly bewildered.

"According to old documents, it took almost a century before everything was considered 'acceptable,'" said the butler. "But even afterwards, the Hibashira family continues to modify the plants in this garden, looking towards perfection. It's an ongoing project that's cost this family several hundreds of thousands of ryou."

If it was possible, Naruto's jaw would have detached itself clean from the rest of his skull. "Freakin' rich bastards," he moaned. How lucky they were to be able to spend their money on such frivolous things. "But at least Niikura baa-chan isn't like that."

Kakashi choked at the comment. He knew otherwise--"Niikura baa-chan" had personally designated him to be her "shopping assistant." That is, he and his Kage bunshin carried the dozen or so bags she collected shopping in Konoha, running back every so often to deposit them in her hotel room so they could carry a fresh batch of bags. In the hours following the ceremony, the woman had single-handedly financed most of Konoha's private businesses. Exactly what or why that woman had wanted to buy so many things was a mystery that Kakashi decided was best left unsolved.

"You'd be surprised, Naruto," Kakashi tried to laugh, though it came out as more of a deep, hoarse squeak. He coughed slightly, and took on a more business-like tone. "Anyway, there's a few things I need to go over with you, Naruto. Mostly etiquette and things like that."

A groan exited Naruto's lips and he pointed at Sakura, insisting, "What about Sakura-chan?"

Both Kakashi and Yamato looked at the young kunoichi. She was still chatting very energetically with the butler about the property; from the looks of it, she had him charmed. Clearly, she didn't need the etiquette lessons.

"She knows how to handle herself in social situations," Kakashi said. "You, on the other hand... you have a bad tendency of letting your mouth cut in front of your brain, and you say stupid things. We can't have that happen on this mission."

"It's a pass or fail," Yamato added. "The upper-class are steeped in certain manners of conduct. If you slip up even once, you're jeopardizing the mission. It'd be a lot easier to tell you not to speak at all--but then the people we need to meet will think you're stupid and they'll doubt Konoha's ability to choose capable shinobi."

"So... number one," Kakashi began, "if you need to introduce yourself... do it _normally_. None of that 'I'm Uzumaki Naruto and I'm going to become the Hokage of Konoha one day-dattebayo' business. 'My name is Uzumaki Naruto' will do. I'll take care of the rest."

"Number two," Yamato followed, "if they say anything that you'd consider offensive, stop. Don't yell, don't kick, don't do anything. The best thing to do is control yourself."

"Whoever we meet to take care of this mission, bow to them," Kakashi reminded. As if he'd thought Naruto didn't completely understand, he put his hand between Naruto's shoulder blades... and pushed him forward and down, so Naruto found himself walking with his body in an almost ninety-degree angle. "Respect is everything."

Yamato nodded, and continued the mini etiquette lesson. "You also need to..."

Kakashi and Yamato finally finished after another few minutes, when, at long last, they met the end of the long path to the front door of the mansion. Going through the already open door, the butler instructed them to take off their shoes, before leading them through a spacious foyer towards a wide set of stairs.

Naruto was momentarily distracted by an ornately carved marble statue by the foot of the stairs, until Kakashi pulled him back by the back of his collar. "And no touching," the jounin ordered hastily.

"I wasn't--!" Naruto protested loudly. Yamato turned to face Naruto, his trademark ghoul expression donned, and the blond silenced himself immediately.

The butler brought them up the stairs, and a few more sets of stairs ("Are we there yet?" Naruto whined quietly several times to himself) before they reached a long hall. At the end was a large door, decorated with what seemed to be the family crest: a bird rising from a blooming cherry blossom. The butler walked several feet ahead of them, and entered the doors before them, with a curt "One moment please."

At his request, the team waited silently at the door, with the exception of Naruto, who, despite Yamato's and Kakashi's quick etiquette lesson, was unable to control himself--or at least the fountains of questions he had to ask regarding the family that resided in the mansion.

Even though all of his answers led to even more questions, Kakashi decided that answering them was better than listening to Naruto spew them out nonstop with interjections of "Huh? Hey Kakashi-sensei, are you listening to me? Huh?"

Yamato watched Kakashi carefully out of the corner of his eye. _He knows a lot more about this family than he's letting on_, he thought to himself, noting Kakashi's cursory responses to Naruto's questions. He smirked. _Luckily for him, Naruto's too dense to read between the lines and probe into it more._

The butler reemerged from the room, and held the door open for them, tipping his head slightly. "Thank you for your patience," he said, solemnly. "My Master will see you now."

After they'd all entered, the old man took his spot in front of them once again and brought them to the other side of a cavernous study, where a handsome, middle-aged man sat at his polished wood desk, scrawling through several ledgers. The butler presented, "These are the Konoha shinobi who requested an audience with you."

The man did not answer for several seconds, continuing to record what seemed to be finances into his books. After a somewhat tense silence, he finished whatever he was recording at the time, took off his glasses, and looked up at the four. Behind Yamato and Kakashi, Sakura blushed--he was quite handsome, well-dressed and trim with immaculate jet-black hair and hazel eyes. He asked, "I hear your mission brings you here. What is it?"

The pink-haired kunoichi's blush faded immediately. For all the man's good looks, his tone unnerved her. His voice was laced with... fear or hostility? She couldn't tell, but it became clear to her--and her teammates--that he didn't want them there.

Kakashi bowed over his desk, gesturing for the others to do the same. The team leader straightened himself up again, and revealed, "We were sent here by orders of the Godaime Hokage to escort Hibashira Aoi to Konohagakure for protection, if you will allow us. Here is the official documentation with the Hokage's seal."

The silver-haired jounin pulled out the message that they'd received and slid it onto the desk. To Naruto's and Sakura's surprise, the man didn't even glance at it. It seemed he only needed Kakashi's words to know what was going on.

"Is that it?" the man asked, the edge still in his voice. "It's about time you Konoha nin came."

Naruto and Sakura gave each other sidelong glances, looks that asked, "What the hell is going on?"

"Watanabe-san," the blue-eyed man called, snapping his fingers, "please bring our guests to Aoi's room."

"Yes sir." The butler bowed and held the door open for the group to leave.

Yamato, Sakura, and Naruto began to walk out, but Kakashi stayed behind. He stared hard at the older man. "The main family hasn't changed much, have they?"

"Old dogs don't learn new tricks," the man quipped. "We live in entirely different worlds--it would be difficult for someone like you to understand."

_Completely different worlds?_ Kakashi wondered incredulously. _What a bullshit excuse._ Outwardly, he only shrugged. "But thank you for your cooperation."

The phone on his desk rang, and the man observed pointedly, "Now if you'll excuse me, I have a call coming in."

Kakashi bowed one last time and headed out of the door behind his team. He chuckled softly at the high-pitched voice that came in through the receiver. He was glad he didn't have to listen to...

"What do you mean 'Aoi's not there'?"

The entire room froze. They didn't just hear that... did they?

"There is no way that he can get out, he's just a toddler. You might have accidentally left the door open. For all we know, he could be crawling around the house, burning everything he touches!"

Yamato shot Kakashi an apprehensive look.

The phone beeped, and the man yelled, "I have another call coming in. Until then, find and keep him from damaging anything. We have people here to pick him up." He slammed on the button to change the line. "What is it?"

A voice just as panicky as the first came through. Things were going from bad to worse. The shinobi team listened intently, not yet sure of what to do.

The head of the house bellowed into the phone, "They have Aoi, you say? Hurry up and catch--"

Kakashi snatched the phone out of his hand, and shouted, "Where?!"

A male voice stammered, "Behind the house! They're heading for the woods!"

Kakashi nearly knocked over the host as he scrambled to rip open the curtains behind his desk. Sure enough, torches were lit, zooming around the grounds like fireflies as guards chased after an unseen menace. Swinging the glass windows open, Kakashi scanned the grounds more carefully, searching.

He found it!

A blur appeared between two wisteria trees, and reappeared momentarily, knocking over some of the figures carrying the torches.

"Naruto! Sakura! Yamato!" Kakashi bellowed, preparing to descend the house's walls. "Hurry up!"

"Roger!"

One after the other, like synchronized swimmers diving into a pool, the team shot out of the window, and raced to the grounds. Kakashi swallowed a gulp of air and sped forward. They had two missions now: rescue Hibashira Aoi from his captor and bring the captor back to Konoha, where they could begin to unravel the mysterious kidnappings.


	3. Charm

**Chapter 3.Charm  
**The hooded figure managed to outrun the several guards that had been following, and dashed up into a gingko tree, hiding among the thickly leaved branches. Once settled safely out of sight, the kidnapper yanked down the black mask that obscured the bottom half of her face. Her chest heaved from running; she wanted take a loud, hearty gulp of air, but stifled herself for fear that someone would hear her breathing. The last thing she wanted was to get caught--and return the toddler strapped to her back.

Underneath her tree branch, the guards that had been chasing her stopped, talking amongst themselves, all very confused. She watched the scene with some amusement, though, had anyone been close enough to her, her violet eyes betrayed the omnipresent fear of capture. If she could make it beyond the walls of the enclosed mansion and its ground, she was free.

Her lungs filled with air, she prepared to take off again, when a set of new voices arrived at the scene underneath her. "You lost the kidnapper?"

"What do you think it looks like?" snapped one of the guards. "If we knew where that bitch was, we wouldn't be standing around here doing nothing."

Another guard added condescendingly, "Aren't you shinobi supposed to be able to do almost anything? Why don't you use one of your fancy jutsu to find her?"

_Shinobi?_ The violet-eyed woman bit her lip and pulled up the mask. _Shit. _If she so much as moved, they'd be on her like maggots to rotting meat. For all she knew, the four shinobi--three men and a young woman--fifty feet below, already knew where she was. Talking to the guards was merely an act to lure her into a false sense of security.

Squatting down slowly on the tree branch, she squinted into the darkness, trying to get a view of their headbands to see which village they came from. The symbols were too small to be seen; the dark night only obscured any shadow that would have rested in the engraved village symbol. Depending on the symbol, the shinobi could either be friend or foe--but, when she couldn't make heads or tails of the situation, she could only assume the worst.

She had more than overstayed her visit to the property. Disguising her presence best as she could, she uncurled her legs, a hand reaching behind her to steady the thickly-bundled child to her back. She silently thanked whoever created the seal that kept the child in a coma-like sleep--and, thus, silent.

The young woman took a cautious step forward. Despite her heavy boots, she could step lightly enough so that it barely disturbed the branch and barely made any noise. She took another step forward.

With a dull scrape and a crack, her foot slipped--some the tree bark had been cracking and ready to fall off, she hadn't noticed it!

She fell, barely managing to catch herself from plummeting to the ground by hooking her other knee around the branch. Suspended upside down fifty feet above the ground, she swore at herself. That misstep was the bullhorn that screamed, "I'M HERE! CATCH ME RIGHT NOW!"

The shinobi on the ground were already looking directly up at her, hanging upside down with a two-year-old on her back. There was no time to think of a good reaction; instinctively, she swung her other leg over the branch, jerked herself forward with her hands extended, and grabbed onto the tree branch. In one smooth movement, she hoisted her feet onto the branch and pushed off to land a good sixty feet in front of the guards and the shinobi, before taking off at top speed without daring to look back.

By the time the guards had finished ordering the four Konoha-nin to follow the young woman, they had already taken off and were a good distance away from them. Kakashi, Yamato, Naruto, and Sakura chased her through the lush garden, over terraces covered in creeping jasmine vines, through small fields of fragrant lemon grass, across the creek that wound throughout the garden.

It didn't take them long to realize the woman would a difficult catch. They could barely keep up with her, even worse when she kept on changing direction and toying with them. Right as they reached the wall that separated the forest behind the property from the garden, she darted to the right barely half a foot away from the wall. Several seconds later, Naruto gave out a loud cry of pain as the young woman used him as a human ladder so she could propel herself to the top of the high wall.

Kakashi and Yamato swore simultaneously, pushing chakra to their feet and racing up the wall as the young woman dropped down on the other side. Once inside the woods, she chose a new path through the trees, skipping from branch to branch. The two jounin and Naruto and Sakura, following them closely from behind, tracked her from the sound of rustling leaves.

"Everyone, scatter!" Kakashi ordered. He was still listening for the rustling leaves, as he couldn't rely on sight in the dark forest. But, listening for noise wasn't much help either, as her path was so erratic that it was nearly impossible to pinpoint exactly where she was. "We're not going to get anywhere near her, given the way she's running around."

"Roger!"

As he floated to the right, Yamato added, "Do your best to avoid any combat. She has the child with her; he's strapped to her back."

Behind Kakashi, Naruto had created several dozen Kage bunshin, all dispersing in small groups in different directions, using each other as springboards to cover more distance and compensate for Naruto's slower speed. Kakashi looked over in the direction Sakura had gone off, then in Yamato's direction. It would have been much easier if they could get her or Yamato _in front_ of their target and have her knock down a couple trees or the latter could create a wooden wall to stop her.

From the loud cry of joy, followed by a yell and a pop, that sounded moments later, Naruto's Kage bunshin had reached her first. Loud pops as the Kage bunshin were knocked out reverberated through the forest. In their separate locations, Yamato, Kakashi, and Sakura regrouped to follow the source of the noise. If Naruto's Kage bunshin were getting knocked out at a never-ending rate, that meant the blond had her surrounded--and an opportunity to catch up to her.

Sure enough, they found a small crowd of Narutos surrounding a single hooded and masked figure, who was attacking futilely against the never-ending supply of blond shinobi. She noticed the three approaching shinobi, and took off into the trees yet again. Kage bunshin were one thing, the actual person was another issue.

All crying out loudly, the mass of Narutos followed her, as well as Kakashi and Sakura.

Meanwhile, Yamato formed the hand seals for the Body Flicker technique rapidly, transporting himself to a large oak several hundred feet before the sea of blond and orange. He was sure that her path wouldn't be so wild that she would avoid the trees in about a hundred feet to his left. Plus, with Naruto and his Kage bunshin, Kakashi, and Sakura enclosing on her, she would probably be too distracted to notice what he was about to create.

Without further hesitation, he formed several more hand seals and hit the tree branch with the palms of his hands. The trees exploded into life, branches lengthening and widening as they snaked around each other to form a solid wall between the line of trees a hundred yards to the left of the tree Yamato stood in.

Barely a meter away from wall, the young woman heard the snapping and crackling of wood, panicking as she couldn't stop herself without crashing into wall. But it was for only a split second, and Yamato could barely believe what happened after.

An enormous blaze burst forth in front of the young woman, easily shattering and burning a large hole into the wall of oak branches. Naruto's Kage bunshin did not expect the fire as much as Yamato, and could not stop themselves from running through the flame, creating a chorus of loud poofs as the disappeared among the smoke.

"What the fuck was that?!" Naruto bellowed, having barely avoided roasting himself in the fire by pushing one of his Kage bunshin into it in his place.

Yamato frowned. "You're asking the wrong person."

Behind them, they heard Kakashi command, "Naruto, you and Sakura go after her! Yamato and I will take her from the flanks."

The two teenagers nodded obediently, and Sakura took off after her blond friend. A second later, Kakashi stopped next to Yamato, surveying the burning barricade.

"What...?" Yamato asked half to himself, disbelievingly. "What the hell was that?"

"One hell of a Great Fireball jutsu," Kakashi murmured, blinking from the smoke and amazement.

Yamato raised his eyebrow at Kakashi. "You don't think--"

The sound of snapping wood cut off Yamato. Behind them, where Naruto and Sakura had headed off, a tree crashed to the ground; the two jounin could safely assume that it was Naruto and Sakura who were knocking down trees with Rasengan and monstrous strength, respectively. And if Sakura and Naruto were busy knocking down trees, then the two teens had successfully intercepted the target. Though for how long they'd be able to keep that woman in that spot, they didn't know.

Neither needed to discuss what to do further--the answer was more than obvious. They rushed to the patch of fallen trees. As they neared the area, Kakashi noticed that the trees had been hit so that they would fall into a circle of dense leafy foliage, supposedly to cage the woman in, making it easier to retrieve the child she had stolen and capture her.

But, with carelessness uncharacteristic of what they had seen that night, the woman sprinted towards the only opening left... just as Sakura felled the tree that would close that opening.

Their eyes widened simultaneously. No one was close enough to the woman to knock her and the child out of the way. The tree was falling too quickly, far too heavy for any of them to hope to stop.

Hidden underneath a tangled mass of branches and leaves at the base of the smoldering barrier and one of the trees that acted as a pillar, the same young woman winced at the loud crash that reverberated through the forest. She tried not to imagine how it would have felt like if it had actually been _her_ who had gotten crushed underneath that massive tree, rather than her Kage bunshin.

Daring a look out of her hiding spot, she cautiously checked the area. The coast was clear.

She stepped out from her refuge, and tiptoed out the first few feet. There was no one else besides her--she could take off safely.

"Yo."

Or not.

Kakashi ducked as she twisted her body around, right leg whizzing over his head. He could have sworn the ends of his messy hair brushed against the leather instep of her boots. _Damn it, I can't move quickly enough to dodge her safely._

The woman threw several more kicks and punches at Kakashi, all of which he barely blocked or dodged. Once again, he literally missed a wallop to his head by a hair. He let out a grunt of pain when she hopped onto his head like she had with Naruto earlier on, and used him as a springboard to the tree branch above them. Despite the sharp pain that shot through his neck, Kakashi smirked. _Now, Tenzou!_

Her yelp echoed through the forest as the branch unexpectedly caught her around her foot, suspending her from upside down. A twig extended from the limb to undo the bands that held the bundled toddler to her back. The woman tried to grab the bundler, but more twigs extended to wrap themselves tightly around her wrists, restricting her from movement.

The bundle dropped to the forest floor, and the woman strained desperately against the branches, but, strengthened by Yamato's chakra, would not relent. For a moment, the woman seemed to be relieved when Sakura appeared out of the darkness caught the child before he hit the ground and took off in the opposite direction, Naruto following her protectively. But it was only very brief sigh of relief before she began struggling against the branches again.

Yamato smiled, and revealed himself from his hiding place on the other side of the tree trunk. Yamato had created a Mokuton bunshin, earlier to help follow the woman. His copy had gone off to create the enormous barricade and follow the woman towards the trees that Naruto and Sakura had felled, while he hid in the woods. In the middle of the chase, Kakashi created a shadow clone to follow his clone, and the two real jounin caught up with each other and quickly devised a plan. Meanwhile, the clones transferred the information onto Naruto and Sakura further ahead. The plan had worked: they had the child, they kept her from moving anymore, and she couldn't use whatever jutsu she had to burn away her bonds again.

Out of the blue, Yamato could have sworn that the smell of burning oak grew stronger. He blinked; the fire had waned for some time, with only a few embers still glowing.

"Shit!" Yamato swore aloud as a line of flame shot through the tree. He jumped off and skidded backwards by Kakashi, staring up thunderstruck. _What the hell?_ he wondered, watching her wooden bonds turn into ash. _That's the second time_.

Ahead of the two jounin, the woman barely landed before she dashed away again--and Kakashi and Yamato had barely shaken themselves out of their surprise before they took off in hot pursuit of her.

Her cloak apparently slowed her down, and, in an effort to speed up towards the pink-haired kunoichi and the blond boy ahead of her, and to throw off the two men behind her, she undid the fastening and threw it behind. It did nothing to slow down Kakashi or Yamato, both of whom easily ran around it.

"Sakura!" Naruto had turned around to find that the woman was rapidly catching up to them. "Sakura, you keep on going! Keep the kid safe!"

"Chotto, Naru--"

"I said to keep going!" he ordered protectively. "Make sure nothing happens to the kid!"

Naruto turned to face her, a determined look on his face as he created several shadow replications. However, the woman, just as determined--though for completely different reasons--continued to run straight ahead, her eyes looking beyond the many Narutos to Sakura.

"Get out of my way, boy!" she hissed in the one moment she took her eyes off of Sakura.

Unsurprisingly, Naruto, ever the unwavering shinobi, refused to budge, though she was charging straight towards him. He and his replications braced themselves for what he thought would be a collision, judging from the way she was running straight towards him. He cocked his arm back, hoping to hit her stomach and knock her out. Closer... closer...

Instead of hitting her, he only punched the air.

She had jumped up at the very last minute—and was using the heads of his Kage bunshin as stepping stones towards Sakura, each replication she stepped on popping in a puff of smoke. "Shimatta!" Naruto groaned to himself, promptly turning around to resume his pursuit. "She keeps on walking all over me!"

Behind her, Sakura could here the woman's footsteps quickly approaching. She was well-prepared to defend herself, if she was caught. But until then, there was no need to turn around. She simply had to hold onto the frighteningly silent child--and outlast her pursuer.

The medic nin's acute hearing could tell that the woman wouldn't last much longer, going at her speed. Her breaths grew shorter and shallower; every so often, she would slow down to take a gulping breath of air. The woman's muscles' strained to obey her unyielding will, and Sakura had a feeling that if her pursuer didn't give up soon, both of her knees would give out and she'd tear a muscle or two.

Sakura's eyes widened as she felt the slight breeze from the woman's fingertips, and the pink-haired kunoichi prepared to whip around to defend herself and the child.

Kakashi suddenly appeared out of nowhere in front of Sakura, and landed a well-placed kick to her pursuer's stomach. Sakura winced at the sickening slap of the woman's body when it hit a nearby tree, rendering her unconscious. Yamato and Naruto arrived on the scene a few seconds later, breathily heavily. "Sakura-san," Naruto panted, "daijoubu?"

Yamato asked, "Is the kid alright?"

Sakura nodded dumbly, half-relieved, half-paranoid--with shinobi and missions, one could never be too sure it a chase was really over. She looked over at the limp form laying facedown on the forest floor: the woman wasn't dead--thankfully, they needed her for questioning--but she was very much unconscious. Or was she?

Kakashi walked over to the woman, looking rather annoyed. Indeed, she had given their team a lot of trouble for the night. He nudged her side gently with his foot, checking to make sure the body was an actual body.

She was flesh and blood alright. Kakashi leaned over and examined the sword that had been strapped to the back of the waistband of her form-fitting pants. "Ojousan, you gave us a lot of trouble," he muttered softly, examining the sword's decorated sheath. "Running around the fucking woods all n--"

Kakashi froze.

While Naruto fussed over Sakura ("Sakura-chan, are you sure you're alright?!" "Naruto, for the hundredth time, I'm fine."), Yamato noticed Kakashi's change in behavior. "Kakashi-san."

Kakashi didn't answer.

"Kakashi-san," Yamato repeated, walking over to his senpai. "Hey, Kakashi-san. Is everything okay?"

At that moment, Yamato caught sight of the thing that had Kakashi's attention: the lanyards laced into the end of the sword handle--or rather, one of the charms strung onto the red lanyard. There were two strands of satiny red string, both ending with tassels made of some kind of long hair. On one strand were wooden three beads, each meticulously painted with what looked to be a brilliant red camellia. On the other were two of the same beads, one each on the top and bottom of a small rectangular block, which had two characters written in fancy calligraphy on wide flat side.

"Tenzou," Kakashi asked, very calmly, but not calmly enough to disguise any incredulity, "what does this kanji say?"

Yamato squinted at the block charm; whoever had done the calligraphy had made it so loose that it was barely decipherable. The first character he could make out relatively easily: fire. The second was a bit more of a challenge, and after several seconds of internal debate regarding certain strokes, he decided it looked like the kanji for pillar. Put the two together: "Hi--"

The jounin hesitated with a sudden epiphany.

"--bashira."

No sooner had he finished the rest of the word, Kakashi had turned the woman over onto her back and was frantically unwrapping the mask that had covered her face. He found a woman who looked to be in her mid-twenties, with pouty, full lips, and creamy skin that was only recently flawed by several shallow cuts on her face. Her long brown hair was tied up into a ponytail, loosened by the chase.

As if there were still a missing clue to the woman, Kakashi proceeded to pull down the collar of the black top she wore, much to Sakura's chagrin. ("Kakashi-sensei, you pervert! You're not supposed to be stripping down a prisoner!")

On her back was a large, intricate tattoo in black ink: It was made up of almost unreadable kanji inscribed along the borders of its complicated lines

He had been holding up her body with one hand, but nearly dropped her once it sunk in: they had been chasing after the wrong person for the wrong reason all along.

--------------------------------------------------

**Author's Notes:** I'll admit, I'm horrid at writing action sequences and I hardly have the kind of brain a shinobi presumably has. In any case, here are a few translation notes:

// shimatta : Damn, shit--something in that context.  
// daijoubu : Are you okay?


	4. After the Chase

**Chapter 4.After the Chase  
**There was some kind of commotion going on below the Tsunade's window. The Hokage growled, grit her teeth, and continued to write out a report for the Fire Country's daimyo--albeit much more violently than she had been, splashing ink here and there, and mussing the fibers of her brush. Of all the times to choose to make a fuss... Tsunade's train of thought broke down and she had difficulty starting it up again to run at the smooth, flowing pace which she managed to bring it.

Much to her irritation, she was back to her usual, easily distracted self, the Hokage who needed a good bottle of sake and maybe some pickled things to keep herself from getting to bored... or too tired of thinking. This report she was in the middle of writing was _really _important too! It was due within three days and she had barely started it.

Now what was the first issue she was supposed to address again?

The noise outside dissipated. Tsunade sighed in relief; perhaps she could get back on track again. She stared at the introductory paragraph of her report, then at the blank that took up about eighty percent of the paper. What would start filling up that blank: Konoha's current economy or the war?

Well, they were interconnected; one could have started either way.

Tsunade really couldn't think anymore, thanks to that unwelcome disruption earlier. To make things even better, the fuss outside returned.

And it was getting louder.

Unless Tsunade was going crazy from the amount of work she had to do--she wouldn't have been surprised if she _was_--it seemed to be getting closer to her office doors too.

Frustrated and fed-up, Tsunade stormed over to her doors and slammed them open. "Izumo! Kotetsu!" she shouted. "Get whoever's making all that fuss to shut the hell up!"

Her two assistants had been asking two redheaded women if they were all right managing their bags and noisily helped them carry them up. At Tsunade's indignant order, the two froze and the noise ceased. One of the women shot an identical glare at the two chuunin. "Yes, Izumo and Kotetsu!" she repeated. "Do shut the hell up."

Tsunade's jaw dropped at the taller of the two women, who was now smirking impishly back at the Hokage. The blonde didn't know whether to be happy or dumbfounded.

But until she could decide on how to properly respond to the redheads' arrival, the Godaime shot another order at the rather confused Izumo and Kotetsu: "Izumo, Kotetsu, go make us a pot of tea."

Again, the fiery-haired woman turned to Izumo and Kotetsu, and recapped the order: "Yes, Izumo, Kotetsu, please make us a pot of tea please." She thought for a moment, then added, "Actually, I'd like some coffee. Please make a cup of that for me."

The second redhead, who had been smiling amused at the scenario, searched through a change purse she'd just pulled out and piped up, "I've been craving chicken kara-age and broccoli with sesame dressing from Matsumoto's take-out shop. Can you pick some of that up as well?"

Several minutes later, food and drink requests completed, the three women chatted amicably the library below Tsunade's office, mostly about the round bump in the second redhead's stomach. "Niikura Minami, I never thought you to be the mothering type," Tsunade teased. "But I'm sure you'll have beautiful children."

The first redhead laughed at Minami. "I couldn't believe it when this party girl daughter of mine finally settled with one boyfriend," she joked. "I almost had a heart attack when she told me she'd be getting married."

Tsunade smiled skeptically at the mother. "You're one to talk, Nanakusa," the Hokage reminded. "You were with _every_ eligible guy in Konoha before you got married. I can name all the handsome young men from our generation, and guaranteed, you either had a fling with him or you dated him. Ne, Minami, your mother even dated Jiraiya--though he hardly counts as 'handsome.'"

The younger woman almost choked on a piece of broccoli mid-swallow. "What?!" she coughed. "_That_ old geezer? The one who was always hitting on me and Shizuka?! You never told me about that!"

Mildly offended, the older redhead sipped delicately at her coffee before responding, "Who ever said I had to tell you about my relationships before your dad?"

"But..." Minami scrunched up her nose, slightly appalled and confused. "Ma... that's just... _weird_."

"And _your_ love life wasn't?" Nanakusa shot back. "I've never heard of a girl who purposely set up a relationship with her boyfriend so he could cheat on you with one of your best friends."

Minami stuck up her nose. "People tend to want things more when they can't have them. They were too dense to realize that they needed to be together."

Nanakusa stole a piece of chicken. "And that led to probably one of the worst relationships I've ever seen," she shot back, swallowing the fried chicken. "That's pretty fucked up."

"Ma, don't let my baby listen to that foul mouth of yours," Minami protested, patting her stomach matronly. "And besides, you're too old to be saying things like that." The young woman turned to Tsunade, and tugged on the Godaime's sleeve childishly. "Ne, Tsunade-sama, tell my _old_ mother to stop using her Henge no Jutsu to look young. I hate people mistaking us for twin sisters."

Tsunade laughed. The two redheads did look like twins, thanks to the Transformation technique Nanakusa shamelessly used. If it hadn't been for that, the older redhead would have looked... well, _old._

Both women had gorgeous flaming red hair in what seemed to be perpetually sleek loose waves, and playful gray-blue eyes in laden in fair, lightly freckled skin. The only thing that distinguished the two (for the time being) was Minami's pregnancy. Tsunade chuckled, "You're asking the wrong person."

"What a horrible daughter I have," Nanakusa grumbled over the rim of her coffee cup. "Ungrateful girl doesn't realize _I'm_ the one she got her looks from." The redhead set the coffee cup down on the table. "Anyway, you're probably wondering why we're here. So before I forget, we came here as a welcome party."

Tsunade raised both eyebrows, and echoed, "A welcome party? For who?"

"Shizuka." To a stunned Tsunade, Nanakusa elaborated, "Shizuka will be returning to Konoha. But she needs to pick up someone on the way... did you know her nephew was discovered to possess the Hibashira family's kekkei genkai?"

"Ah!" Tsunade stood up. "But we just sent Kakashi's team to pick him up!"

Nanakusa blinked in apparent surprise, before her face split into yet another impish smile. "_Excellent_," she trilled. "I was hoping that would happen, but I was worried that the mission details wouldn't be delivered on time."

Both Minami and Tsunade coughed into their cups of green tea, gaping incredulously at Nanakusa. "What... what?!" Tsunade exclaimed. "As much as I'm grateful for you sending that mission in and informing us of another person with that kekkei genkai, you don't need to be so god damn underhanded about it."

Minami took several deep breaths to calm down. "Mom, you're fucking crazy. Really fucking crazy. Of all the dozens of teams in Konoha, you did it so she would run into _that_ team? Mom, you're fucking _nuts_."

Nanakusa thwacked her daughter across the back of her head, and scolded, "Don't speak like that with a baby in your stomach!"

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In a fresh battlefield in Kusagakure, the albino woman released her Transformation jutsu. She groaned at the splashes of dark red on her gold haori, and then at the looseness she felt in her hair. When the battle had begun, she had hoped to be able to hide herself amongst the fray while she searched for the Iwa-kunoichi who could manipulate the earth. Unfortunately, she had forgotten the most important part of the plan: this was a battle, and she couldn't avoid fighting.

The fighting itself wasn't that bad--she did it very easily, and managed to release some pent-up stress in the process--but the aftermath pissed her off.

Her hair that she had carefully arranged that morning was a mess, and her expensive haori had been reduced to bloody pieces of fabric sewn together by bloody thread.

"O-Hime, I've told you over and over again to wear something a little less high-maintenance," reminded her tattooed and pierced partner several bodies away. "Then you wouldn't have wasted all that effort for nothing."

"I don't want to hear that from you," the woman snapped. Her partner wore nothing to cover his tattooed upper body, and his hair was in a perpetually messy state, hardly the kind of person from whom one would expect to receive grooming tips.

"Hey, you don't hear me fussing over my appearance after I've finished a fight," he contended, matter-of-factly. "Nor am I constantly wasting money on make-up and clothing."

"A woman who doesn't take care of her appearance won't get anywhere in life," scoffed the albino. "A heathen like you would never understand."

"I resent that, O-Hime." He turned a body over, and smiled. "The only thing your vanity is good for is after someone messes you up for the first time. Then you go on a rampage, killing everyone in sight. It makes life much easier for me." He surveyed the field--they were the only two standing. "But I'll admit, you're a little scary when you're pissed like that."

The woman he had just turned over was not the person he was looking for; he wanted an auburn-haired young lady with one blue eye and one green eye. He had seen her fighting earlier, and was nearly impaled by one of the rock formations she had created. Ironically, he just finished checking every female body in the battlefield, and none of the bodies were hers.

Suddenly, in the corner of his eye, he saw something stir. He could have _sworn_ it was one of the lifeless male bodies lying a few feet away. He walked over, ignoring the bodies and looking around the ground instead. His partner _never_ left anyone alive once she started killing. A survivor should have used a very strong shield to block off the attack.

He smiled. One of the bodies was surrounded by a peculiar ring of dirt and uprooted grass.

Target found.

The two found themselves walking through a bamboo forest, an auburn-haired twenty-something woman slung over the man's shoulder. The woman marked off the picture of their capture in a small leather-bound book. She turned the page, and stared at it for a few moments, then snapped the book shut.

He looked at her with an amused expression on his face. Noting the cool pink tinge on her cheeks, he remarked, "My my, what's got you stirred up? I haven't seen blood in those cold cheeks of yours for a while now."

"One of Makoto's and Ayanokuji's targets. I want to fight her."

Her tattooed associate contemplated for a few seconds. When it finally came to him, he wondered why he didn't think of it sooner. "Oh, that pretty Housenka girl?"

The kimono-clad beauty next to him smirked malevolently. "I'm annoyed that the Lord didn't grant my request to be assigned to capture her. Especially considering Makoto and Ayanokuji don't stand a chance against her--not by a long shot."

The man gave a short laugh. "We have such little faith in our own comrades, don't we?"

"Faith in them has nothing to do with it. I know it for a fact. After all, I watched her childhood and the people who taught her."

"Ah, yes... if I remember properly, you used to live in Konoha. That's the Housenka girl's home village, isn't it? What was her name...? Something with 'Hi' in it..."

"Hibashira Shizuka," the albino finished matter-of-factly. "Kozue became her surrogate mother when we were twelve and Ren became her teacher."

"Your old teammates, huh?" The man smiled nostalgically. "I remember my old team. Too bad those days are long over for us--life was easy back then."

"Easy doesn't mean interesting or fun," she reminded him. "It gets boring after a while."

"Boredom usually isn't the reason why shinobi leave their villages."

"That's true," she drawled. "But it's still something too complicated for a simpleton like you to understand."

He cleared his throat, annoyed. That was the second time… He held out the blonde girl by her collar in front of his companion, half-demanding, half-asking, "Would you like to carry this young lady for me?"

"Actually... no." A pause, then the woman stopped in her tracks to bow to him and apologized, "I've been very rude to you. Please forgive me."

An apology was all he needed, and he slung the blonde young woman over his shoulder again. He demurred, "The thing that bothers me about you the most is how you think everyone else is below you just because you're sleeping with the boss. You call me a simpleton. You call Makoto and Ayanokuji incompetent. Have you ever even looked at yourself?"

"Do I need to answer to that question?" she snapped, the color rising in her cheeks once again. Of course she knew all of her faults. In fact, she was frighteningly aware of them. But most people didn't admit their problems to the world--not freely anyway, and certainly not to someone who was just as imperfect as herself.

The man asked her knowing exactly how she would react and he relented. "In any case, you might be underestimating their abilities. Maybe they _won't_ come running back with their tail between their legs. Maybe the next time we hear of them _won't_ be when they're six feet under. It's very possible that they'll come back to us with the Housenka girl."

The white woman didn't answer. For all he knew, she was probably throwing an internal fit because he was disagreeing with her. Whatever--just because she was sleeping with the boss didn't make him _her_ bitch, too.

"O-Hime… are you listening to me?" he sang. Well, irregardless of whether or not she was listening to him, it wouldn't stop him from finishing his little lecture: "Not only are you underestimating Makoto's and Ayanokuji's abilities, but you might be overestimating the Housenka girl's as well. I mean, how old were you when you left? Not that old--and if my math is correct, she wouldn't have been that old either. Just because you knew your teammate's fighting styles, it doesn't make her a carbon copy of them. People do develop their own fighting styles, you know."

Again silence. _This is getting ridiculous_, he thought to himself. _If I can get even one answer out of that tight-lipped bitch, I can rest easily for tonight._ "Anyway, I was wondering," he began. "As far as I know, you've never seen the Housenka girl since you left your home village. What's your beef with her?"

Dismay accompanied the only sound they made in the bamboo forest, the sound of leaves rustling underfoot. _She really isn't--_

"It's complicated. To make a long story short, she and Kozue took someone away from me. Kozue's dead, but if I can give her little cousin a taste of what I felt, I can die happy."

What was he thinking, asking her that kind of question? He mentally slapped himself, and thought, _Women and their selfishness... it really scares the shit out of me._

--------------------------------------------------

The last thing she remembered was reaching out to grab that pink-haired kunoichi. The girl had run off with the little boy before she managed to burn the tree limbs that coiled around her body and kept her from continuing the chase.

She had been so close--she had brushed the ends of the teenager's hair with the ends of her _fingertips_.

And just as she put on that extra burst of speed... what the hell happened? It felt like getting hit by the Akimichi clan's Human Bullet Tank jutsu.

She briefly remembered a sharp pain in her ribs before the numbing blow to her head. (God that had really _hurt_.) Everything after that... it was all blank.

_What the hell happened?_ she groaned quietly to herself. _I hope I'm not _dead

Consciousness flowed back into her body, beginning from her head down to her toes. Maybe she was just crazy but it felt _warm_. The pain in her ribs wasn't there anymore either.

Everything went in and out of focus as she opened her eyes. She was laying down in a forest, bathed in the warm glow of what sounded like a roaring fire. _What the hell?_

Like some kind of mental magic trick, her vision cleared and she shot upright into sitting position. _Oh no no no no no... this is _terrible_! I lost track of them! This is so bad, so bad. I'll just thank whoever's been taking care of me, and then I'll leave. I have to catch up to them._

"Look who's awake," said a voice behind her. "Shizuka, don't worry, the kid's alright. He's sleeping right next to you."

The woman turned hesitantly, wanting to believe the voice, and not wanting to at the same time. What if it was just a dirty trick? What if she really was still unconscious and her mind was playing games with her?

But... the toddler really _was_ next to her, his eyes closed in a peaceful sleep. He had been taken out of the bundle that she secured him in, and placed over a folded sleeping bag. The brunette reached out uncertain, fearing that it was only an image her mind created.

She almost shuddered when her fingertips came in contact with soft baby skin. He was real.

A tear of relief trickled down her cheek as she turned to the owner of the voice behind her--and found herself face-to-face with the pink-haired kunoichi, her blond multiplying teammate, and two jounin men.

Her face went white, but not as much from the fact that she was sitting amongst the very people whom she had been trying to escape as much as it was from the fact that one of them was--

"K... Kakashi..."

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**Author's Notes:** I know it's like taboo to do this, but guys and girls... REVIEW! I'm itching to know what you all think of it so far, whether or not you like it, whatever questions you might have, etc. xD


	5. Relationshit

**Chapter 5.Relationshit  
**Kakashi tried to smile underneath his mask, but only succeeded in looking just as awkward as he felt. Inside, he was mentally slapping himself for not having thought about what to do once the brunette woke up in advance. He didn't really anticipate Naruto's or Sakura's reactions either, and the way the two teenagers stared at him--the way anyone looked when they hadn't been told something they should have been told--only made him feel even more uneasy.

Yamato's eyes shifted from Kakashi to the brunette, then back to Kakashi. The woman was in tears, though she made no noise, only letting wet droplets trickle down her cheeks. Yamato frowned: of all the people to run into, it had to be _her_, that woman so unreadable that Yamato couldn't figure out whether she was genuinely upset about seeing the copy-nin, if she was really surprised, or none of the above.

As if she too were confused about why she was acting the way she was, the woman took a shaky breath and wiped her eyes, apologizing softly for her strange behavior. Yamato's eye twitched; it was always one thing from another for her. Luckily, he wasn't Kakashi...

"Ano... I guess it would be appropriate to introduce all of you," Kakashi decided, scratching the back of his head while his one visible eye looked at Naruto and Sakura. It had become too quiet, and the copy-nin was itching to relieve the tension. He turned to the brunette. "Shizuka, these are two of my old students, Uzumaki Naruto and Haruno Sakura. Naruto, Sakura, this is--" The pause that broke his sentence was almost a breath, but it did little to disguise Kakashi's uncertainty. "--one of my old colleagues, Hibashira Shizuka."

Judging from the tense silence that greeted the woman, neither of the teenagers was cottoning to her, despite Kakashi's assurances.

The copy nin laughed nervously and apologized to the brunette, "Sorry for the cold reception, Shizuka." He nudged the two teenagers. "Hey, you two, the least you could do is say hello."

Shaking her head, the woman cut in, "No, no, don't worry about it. I understand. You're meeting me under weird circumstances; even if I gave you explanation, it would sound too ridiculous to be true. But, for starters, the little boy that we were fighting each other over is my nephew, Aoi. I would never hurt him."

Sakura raised a skeptical eyebrow, and asked disparagingly, "If that's so, then why hasn't he woken up throughout this entire ordeal? Most kids his age would be screaming their lungs out by now."

For a very brief moment, Sakura felt victorious, thanks to the look of regret on the woman's face. But the brunette relaxed quickly and chuckled, "That's where it begins to get confusing. Now, if you don't mind, I have a question of my own: exactly _what_ were you doing at my brother's estate?"

"Eh?!" Naruto gawked at Shizuka. "That guy was your brother?!"

"If you mean the guy sitting behind a big fancy desk and scribbling away, then yes, that would have been my brother."

Naruto objected loudly, "But you two look nothing alike!"

With a sardonic smile, Shizuka replied, "Because we have different mothers."

She said it so cheerfully that it was scary. Much more seriously, she continued, "In any case, that doesn't answer the question."

Before Naruto could say anything else, Yamato clapped his hand over the blond's mouth. "Shizuka, sorry about that," he said, embarrassed. "To answer your question, we were supposed to pick up Aoi-chan there as our mission. But obviously, you got to him before us."

"Eh?! Yamato-taichou knows her too?!" came Naruto's muffled yell.

Sakura was just as surprised as Naruto, but had a bit more restraint. She gave him a sharp slap across the top of his head and sighed, "Naruto, shut up for a few minutes, will you?"

Kakashi made a mental note to treat Sakura to a meal or something one day. Maybe it was because Naruto really liked her or geared her monstrous strength, but she was the only one who could deal with his runaway mouth effectively.

The woman suddenly jolted, the way people did when they jerked themselves awake after dozing off. Kakashi's eyebrows furrowed in concern underneath his headband. _It was only a little bit, but she's already so worn out? _He sighed, the things he did to make up for unnecessary trouble...

Kakashi faced the rest of the group, and offered, "Despite the unexpected turn of events, I think we can safely say that this mission was a success. Let's stop at an onsen on the way back, how's that? It'll be my treat."

"What the hell?" gurgled Naruto the next evening as he and Yamato soaked in a hot spring. "Kakashi's been acting weird because of that woman. He's never treated me or Sakura to dinner before and he wormed his way out of paying for ramen the first time we ate together--remember Yamato-taichou? All of a sudden he's offered to pay for all of us at this resort."

"You ought to be a little more grateful, don't you think?" Yamato scolded.

"It's not that," Naruto argued, splashing water with his fists. "And you too!" He pointed accusingly at Yamato. "You know something's up between him and that pretty woman, you're just not telling us!"

Yamato frowned. "Naruto, it's not something for me to tell."

"Ah! I knew it!" Naruto beat the water furiously with his fists. "There _is_ something between those two! Naninaninani?!"

Yamato groaned. That was a bad move on his part--now Naruto would pester him half to death. But the more he thought about it, the more he thought telling Naruto and Sakura would be a better idea. The dark-haired ANBU turned in his spot, looking around to make sure no one was listening. He leaned close to Naruto, and said softly, "Let's get out. I'll tell you and Sakura in the lounge."

Naruto snickered. "Heheh, Yamato-taichou, you're a good guy."

"We'll turn into prunes if we stay in here any longer," said Yamato, grabbing his towel. "I'll treat you and Sakura to something while we talk."

When Yamato and Naruto found Sakura, Yamato swore and clapped his hand over his face. Why wasn't he surprised at what they found?

Sakura, holding the gurgling two-year-old who had finally woken up that morning, watched with a mix of fascination and bewilderment as Kakashi and Shizuka put all their effort and concentration into an intense game of...

"Ping-pong," Yamato groaned. "Kami-sama... if those two aren't the most messed up pair I've ever seen, then this world is going down the toilet."

"Don't tell me that's all you've got, Shizuka," Kakashi taunted, returning a volley.

"Likewise, Kakashi," she shot back. "Come on, your reaction time's a bit slow. What happened?"

"Oi... Sakura-chan," Naruto whispered. "What's up with them?"

The baby in her arms cooed happily, and reached over to yank Naruto's hair. "Aoi-chan, don't pull at Naruto-baka's head," she chided playfully. "They've been at it for the last hour and a half."

"That long?" asked Yamato, amazed. "Kami-sama..."

"What?" Sakura looked at Yamato inquisitively.

Yamato shook his head. "Never mind. Sakura, would you mind coming with Naruto and I to get some snacks?"

"I'd like to, but what about Aoi-chan?" Sakura asked, prying chubby fingers out of Naruto's hair. She turned to the pair, still embroiled in their game. "Ano... Shizuka-san, would it be alright if--?"

The brunette didn't even look at her when she waved a dismissive hand. "You can," she said, smacking the battered ping-pong ball back to Kakashi. "You can take Aoi-chan with you, too."

How she managed to do it, Sakura had no idea, but Shizuka fished inside the sleeve of her playing around and extracted a small change purse while still managing to keep her eye on the ball. Returning the ball to Kakashi, Shizuka held the purse out to Sakura said, "Here's some money for Aoi's snacks. I don't really know what he likes, so get him the soft things and then see what he likes."

At that moment, Kakashi smacked the ping-pong ball dangerously close to her face, and she barely managed to block it with her paddle. "KO-RA!" she yelled, returning all of her attention back to her game. "Do you want to take an eye out?!"

Yamato chuckled nervously, and ushered the them out of the room. "I think it's best to leave these two alone for a little while."

As they left, there was a loud snap in the ping-pong room, followed by the triumphant slam of a paddle onto the table. They heard Shizuka clapping as she cried out gleefully, "Aha! You broke it! I win by default!"

Clearly irritated by his paddle mishap, Kakashi returned, "Rematch. Now. Someone get me another paddle."

"Honto ni... I'll never understand them," Yamato mumbled through a mouthful of takoyaki once they had settled down with their snacks one of the resorts many lounges. "But I guess it's better than listening to them shout at each other..."

"Hey, Yamato-taichou," said Sakura, annoyed at the fact that he still hadn't told her or Naruto what he wanted to talk to them about. "What are you talking about?"

Naruto cried out in surprise as Aoi suddenly began to let the chewed up castella he'd just eaten dribble out of his mouth. ("Well, that strikes out castella as something Aoi-chan likes," Sakura muttered, and pulled the small plastic tray of cake away from the baby.)

"Oi, chibi! Yamete!" Naruto protested as the baby continued to regurgitate a saliva and cake puree all over him. Trying to stop the flow of cake and clean his yukata at the same time, Naruto asked, "Yamato-taichou, you haven't told us anything yet."

Yamato plucked Aoi out of Naruto's lap and sat the toddler next to him, holding his free hand out to keep the child from crawling all over the place. "I'll tell you, but you two have to promise me that you won't tell Kakashi I told you," Yamato warned. "The only reason why I'm letting you know is because once we get back to Konoha, people are going to start to talk and it'd be bad if you got old rumors."

That was more than enough to catch the two teenagers' attention. They leaned closer to Yamato. Occasionally, Sakura would pick up one of the many soft snacks and desserts they bought for Aoi to keep him preoccupied as Yamato began to explain: "Shizuka used to be one of Kakashi's old girlfriends."

Naruto and Sakura were rather disappointed by the information. Kakashi had a lot of girlfriends and/or flings, as far as they'd heard; what was one more? Sakura complained, "Yamato-taichou, I was hoping whatever you were planning on telling us would be a little less... anticlimactic?"

Yamato tsk-ed. "Would it be less 'anticlimactic' if I told you that she disappeared from Konoha while they were dating?

"Depends," the two chorused, but it was obvious that he'd caught their attention. "What happened?"

Was it just them or did Yamato actually shudder?

"I'd like to know as much as you two, but I'm just as afraid of wondering why," he admitted. "But I think part of it might have been the fact that their relationship was a lot like the way they were playing ping-pong over there—without those two yelling themselves hoarse."

He laughed at their reaction: Naruto and Sakura's widened fearfully. "It _is_ pretty messed up--but that didn't stop them from being together for more than three years. It would have been four if Shizuka didn't randomly disappear a week before."

There was a long pause, only occupied by Aoi's squealing when he finally found something he liked: mitarashi dango.

Finally, Yamato said, "I think... Shizuka was Kakashi's 'first.' (No, Naruto, I'm not talking about sex.) From what I heard from one of Shizuka's buddies, she and Kakashi were childhood friends, and she was the first girl that he liked when he was a kid. Eventually, I guess that developed into the first actual relationship Kakashi had that was more than just a fling or casual dating. But, like I said, they were a really messed up pair.

"As you know, Kakashi puts his teammates as his first priority. It was the same with this relationship he had with her: he really cared about Shizuka." Yamato laughed softly. "I remember when we worked in ANBU together, he was really off one day because she was away on an A-rank mission and he had a nightmare about her getting hurt. But that's how much he cared."

Yamato cleared his throat and took a sip of tea before resuming, "On the other hand, I've had the opportunity to work with Shizuka as well, when she worked the undercover missions. Their philosophy on missions couldn't be more different--and they carried it over to their personal lives as well. Shizuka was a loner: she didn't like--or she had a hard time--working with other people. The times I worked with her, my team only worked as back-up in case something bad happened to her--which never happened, since she used to go out of her way to make sure no one else got involved. Now imagine her, a fiercely independent woman who stubbornly refuses to be helped, with Kakashi, a guy who will risk his life for the sake of his comrades: it's like oil and water.

"Shizuka had a lot of issues as well, and serious problems developed as a result, and those problems she had contributed to their bad relationship. Kakashi wanted to help her and he wanted her to _get_ help, but she wouldn't have any of it. Kakashi couldn't stand how she refused to listen to him, even if he was trying to help her, and she hated the fact that he was always trying to help her. If you walked underneath their apartment window--when they felt it was safe for them to live together--you used to be able to hear them yelling at each other."

Naruto was downright terrified, and made a resolution to bolt at least a mile away from Shizuka and Kakashi, should he ever catch them in the middle of an argument. He whimpered, "That's called a relation_shit­_, not a _relationship_."

Yamato only shrugged. "I did warn you that it was really messed up."

Sakura had picked up Aoi and sat him on her lap, and held onto him for dear life. This was like a soap opera--only scarier. She asked, "Was that why she left? I mean... I would have, if I was in a relationship like that."

"Who knows? Maybe, maybe not," Yamato sighed. "But why would she have left the village, rather than just ending the relationship? The way it ended is a little bit extreme for irreconcilable differences, don't you think? I mean, Sakura, you read the tabloids. Celebrities might have a bad public split, or, if they're married, they'll file for divorce. But have you ever heard of anyone disappearing for seven years?"

Apparently not.

Yamato took another sip of tea. "After she left, Kakashi was a bit of a wreck for about a year. If you didn't know him, he seemed to be okay: he still kept his position as one of the best jounin in Konoha, and he had a relatively high mission success rate. But he didn't just say 'Forget about it' and declare their relationship null and void--he actually waited for her to come back for a year. When she didn't, he finally gave up and went back to life as if nothing had ever happened."

Rubbing his chin, he wondered, "Now that she is back, I don't know what to expect from either of them. From that ping-pong match we saw, they're both very pissed at each other, but neither can bring themselves to argue anymore. Something has to give, but neither is willing to give up before the other. I won't be surprised if the only way they _can _interact is through physical competitions or spiteful pranks."

The ANBU leaned in even closer to his subordinates, and said softly, "Don't get me wrong, Shizuka is actually a very charming person and she's a good person to be friends with, as is Kakashi-senpai... From now on, I want both of you to know what to expect if they're together--and I want you two to avoid touching that subject. If you hear any gossip from the village jounin about Shizuka and Kakashi, ignore it. Don't ask either of them questions about each other or their relationship--or, as Naruto so eloquently puts it, their 'relationshit.' It's something only the two of them can work out."

Sitting in the onsen a few hours after several vigorous games of ping-pong with Kakashi, Shizuka felt immensely satisfied... and very empty at the same time. A few ping-pong games didn't prove anything, even if she did beat him 3-2.

He was the one who challenged her after she got out of the onsen the first time. But... she was the one who turned it into something of a death match. No matter how Shizuka looked at it, she held most of the responsibility for it coming out the way it had.

Shizuka slid underwater, careful to hold onto Aoi, who sat on her lap, splashing away. Even underwater, with all his splashing and flailing, she could hear him chortling and squealing like he was the happiest baby in the world. It was soothing and made her feel a little bit better.

Reemerging from the water, she hugged him close to her. He cooed and babbled something in his endearing gibberish, turning his head up to place a sloppy kiss on her chin.

"Yes, I have you now, Aoi-chan," she cooed, turning him around so she could kiss his plump cheeks. "I have to pay my full attention to raising you like a good mama should, and I can't be worrying about that moron all the time."

But, later that night, after she had left the hot spring and Aoi had fallen asleep, when she ate sweets until she could feel her teeth rotting in her gums and drank until she passed out, she unconsciously realized that not "worrying about that moron" was easier to say than it was to do.

Especially when her heart rate increased tenfold every time she thought about him, no matter how evil her thoughts were.

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Kakashi gaped at the bill. When he offered to treat them all to the hot spring resort, he knew it would be expensive, but, at the very least, he hoped to have _some_ of the previous month's paycheck left over. Coming from a series of battles and then going directly to an escort mission that ended up being more trouble than it was worth, he wanted to give his team a chance to recuperate--and, later, he wanted to extend that change to Shizuka, who wore herself out running from and fighting against people she didn't realize were comrades until after she came to.

Certainly, the trip had fulfilled its purpose--and then some. The silver-haired jounin turned around, and looked at a particular brunette, who sat on a loveseat in the inn's lobby with her head on the coffee table in front of her.

A huge portion of the bill was thanks to Shizuka, who was now nursing the worst hangover she had ever gotten, while Sakura held onto Aoi, looking concerned for his aunt. Most of it was for an inordinate amount of sweets and alcohol. Kakashi thought darkly, _She'll accidentally kill herself if she goes on like that--either of dental problems that extend to her heart or of liver problems_.

But, swallowing the lump in his throat and pride, Kakashi signed the bill and emptied out his wallet of the money he had taken out the day before.

Once that was taken care of, there was still Shizuka. "Oi... Shizuka," he demanded firmly, standing over her. "Can you move?"

"Shut uuuuuppppp," she moaned, covering her ears. "Don't be so friggin' loud, my head really hurts."

Exasperated, Kakashi muttered under his breath as he began to walk away, "Then you shouldn't have drank so much last night."

"Then you shouldn't have broken my ribs nor should you have nicked up my face," she mumbled, looking up menacingly at him. "If you hadn't done that, I wouldn't have wanted to get back at you with my expenses. You know, Sakura-chan told me _all_ about the injuries you gave me when you knocked me out."

"What the hell?" Kakashi sighed. "You're healed up just fine, thanks to 'Sakura-chan' over there."

"That still doesn't change the fact that A, you broke three of my ribs; B, my face got cut up; and C, it hurt like _hell_."

_And what about the times that you were trying to do the same thing to me?_ he asked her without saying anything. Turning to Naruto, he ordered, "Since Shizuka can't really move, you'll be a gentleman and carry her back to Konoha, won't you?"

"What?" Naruto groaned. "But--!"

He wanted to protest against carrying the tall brunette, but then he remembered the warning Yamato gave him and Sakura the previous night.

"She's light and has nothing on her," replied Kakashi coolly. "Trust me, I would know."

Naruto grudgingly obliged to Kakashi's order when Yamato stepped in front of him and dropped his travel pack. "I'll carry Shizuka," he offered. "But in exchange, you can carry my bags."

Naruto brightened up. Anything was better than carrying a deadweight of a woman, even if she was as light as Kakashi claimed.

--------------------------------------------------

**Author's Notes:** Oh the drama. And, yeah, I grabbed "relationshit" from Dane Cook. It was the best way to describe it.

// Kami-sama: God  
// "KO-RA!": "Hey!"  
// "Honto ni...": "Really..."  
// "Oi, chibi! Yamete!": "Hey, runt! Stop it!"  
// castella: A kind of sponge cake. (If you've watched _Bleach_, at one point, Orihime mentions one of her weird concoctions during lunch, which happens to be castella with red-beat paste. xD")  
// mitarashi dango: The round things you'll see Anko eating from time to time. This kind of dango has _mitarashi_, a syrup of soy sauce, sugar, and starch, drizzled on top.


	6. A Woman Who Cannot Be A Mother

**Chapter 6.A Woman Who Cannot Be A Mother  
**Three figures stood ahead of them at Konoha's gates, two of them waving. As they drew nearer, Kakashi's team got a closer look at the three people standing there: all women, one of them Tsunade, and the other two were redheads, one with a very round belly.

"For Pete's sake," Kakashi groaned, dragging a hand down his face. "Kami-sama, if you hate me, if I've done anything so wrong and sinful in your eyes... just smite me right now."

The two redheads were none other than the Niikura Corporation matriarch, Niikura Nanakusa, and her only daughter, Minami--the worst two people in the Niikura family for Kakashi to have to meet up with. Nanakusa paired with her daughter meant twice the pestering, twice the teasing, twice the prodding, twice the ordering, twice the compulsive spending (and twice the amount of bags that _he_ would have to carry)... the mother and daughter duo were just double trouble. He would have rather shoved senbon underneath his finger nails than be with the two redheads; unlike their incessant banter, the pain would at least _go away_.

The two women noticed Kakashi's discomfort and their faces split into identical mischievous grins, as if they were preparing to unleash their merciless mocking fury on him--but, to Kakashi's relief, a loud cry immediately diverted their attention away from him.

Shizuka had lingered towards the back of the group, holding Aoi's hand while he toddled along next to her. At the sight of Konoha's gates, the toddler became overexcited and tried to run ahead. However, his unsteady tot legs had not yet developed enough for him to run as quickly as he wanted, causing him to stumble and scrape his knees.

Yamato, who had remained at the rear behind Shizuka and Aoi, tried to help the woman while their young charge bawled loudly over the scrapes on his chubby knees. Sakura and Naruto joined the two adults moments later, when Aoi started to flail in Shizuka's lap as she sat on her haunches, trying to examine his cuts. Naruto's presence didn't help the situation, as Aoi only let out an ear-splitting scream and started kicking and flailing even more.

Laughing heartily, Nanakusa helped Minami waddle over to the group fussing over to the little boy, while Tsunade beckoned Kakashi and Naruto over--the latter she only called over to try to get Aoi to stop screeching and fretting as much as he was.

Tsunade pat Kakashi on the shoulder, and said, "Well, it's rather obvious that your mission was a success. You managed to get past that obstinate brother of hers?"

Kakashi shrugged. "It wasn't that hard. He was almost overjoyed when we came to pick up the kid."

Disappointed, Tsunade shook her head, and then looked over at the group that had surrounded Aoi. Thanks to Sakura and her medical jutsu, he was no longer crying his throat raw. Now, he was back to gurgling and chirruping like the happiest child in the world, while Nanakusa, Sakura, and Shizuka cooed over him. Looking on and conversing to each other at the same time (probably over the pregnancy) were Yamato and Minami.

Kakashi looked suspiciously at Tsunade. "With all due respect, Hokage-sama... You didn't plan it to come out this way on purpose did you?"

"Ach, no," Tsunade scoffed, waving the blame away. "I'm not interested in that kind of thing." She placed her hand by her mouth and pointed discreetly at the older Niikura. "It was all Nana, I swear."

_That conniving bitch!_ Kakashi cursed silently. _One of these days, I'll fucking kill her._

The secret told, Tsunade continued, "If you'll excuse me, I need to speak to her and Shizuka. You are all dismissed for today."

"Yes!" cheered Naruto. "Sakura-chan! Wanna go to Ichiraku for dinner?"

After giving Aoi one last kiss on his forehead, Sakura lamented, "Naruto, right now? I haven't taken a good bath since the hot springs. I must be gross."

"Well, not now," Naruto assured her. "In an hour maybe?"

"Alright then," Sakura agreed. "If I see any of the others, would it be okay if I invited them to come along?"

"Awww, damn, Sakura. I wanted this to be like a date."

Meanwhile, Minami had sidled up somewhat awkwardly next to Kakashi. Her stomach bumped into his arm as she turned and she chuckled good-naturedly, "Oh my, that doesn't really work with this belly of mine. Anyway, speaking of dinner, I wanted to ask you if you'd mind having a drink with me? Yamato-kun, you're allowed to come along as well."

"Aren't you _not_ supposed to drink when you're pregnant?" Kakashi asked incredulously as they seated themselves at the bar of a popular shinobi tavern some time later. Yamato had decided not to come along, saying how he needed to take care of some ANBU business.

"Whoever said I was going to drink?" Minami asked, scanning the menu. "I'm going to eat my heart out instead! I have two stomachs to feed, you know."

"Two stomachs?" Kakashi chuckled. "You make yourself sound like a mutant cow."

Over the menu, Minami glared at Kakashi with steely eyes. "Excuse me?"

"It was supposed to be a joke." Kakashi took a hesitant sidelong glass at her before ordering a beer. Minami seemed to order the entire menu, presumably to fill her "two stomachs." The redhead sat a good foot or so away from the edge of the countertop, thanks to her bulging stomach.

"I always thought you were careful about that sort of thing," Kakashi quipped, ending the silence.

"How rude," Minami pouted. She held out her right hand in front of them, showing off a gold wedding band with an elegant design of curving lines and swirls. "I was young, foolish, and my hormones were out of control back then. But, now, I'm older and wiser. I think I can say I've calmed down considerably since then. This pregnancy was a conscious decision." She pulled her wallet out of her expensive leather purse to show off a picture of her wedding day. "Ne ne, Kakashi-kun, that's my husband, Kuroda Ranmaru. He's the son of the head of the ship-building company."

In the picture, a handsome man with hazel eyes and dirty blond hair, dressed in a formal hakama, stood next to a blushing Minami, glowing in her white furisode. Kakashi smiled, and asked, "How long has it been so far?"

"Only about a year and a half, but we started dating three years ago," Minami replied, putting her wallet back.

"You finally settled down," Kakashi remarked. (Minami could have sworn she heard him sigh in relief once he finished the sentence.) "I'm happy that you found someone... I wish you two the best for the future."

Minami didn't thank him for his good wishes, or smile back like she usually would have. She only stared blankly at the polished wood countertop, even when the bartender brought the appetizers she had ordered. Her hands tightened around the edge of her stool, until she finally wondered, "Ne... Kakashi-kun... do you believe in the red string of fate?"

Kakashi pulled down his mask to eat, and then snuck a pot sticker from one of the plates. He popped it in his mouth, swallowed it, and then said, "I suppose I do... what about it?"

Minami stuck a chopstick in one of the dumplings and twirled it around absent-mindedly as she explained, "You know... there's always someone on the other end of that string. It's shorter for some people, longer for others... like me, for example. Until I met Ranmaru, I spent years trying to find the end of that string. It took me a while to realize, but when I did reach the end, I was so overjoyed that I can't even describe it to you."

"I'm glad of that," Kakashi said, taking another pot sticker.

"But, like I said, there are people who don't have to search as long to find the end of that string," she continued. The pot sticker that she had impaled slid down her chopstick, so Minami slid it back to the end and into her mouth. When she gulped it down, she looked at Kakashi. Was that envy he saw in her eyes? "People like you have to do so little to find the person you're looking for... but then when that someone is right in front of you, you don't take them. I don't understand."

Kakashi looked away, slightly annoyed, before calling for another beer. "To be completely honest, I would have declined the invitation to dinner if you weren't treating me. That 'someone' burned--forgive the pun--a big hole in my bank account when I treated her and my team to a stay at a ryokan, so it was an invitation I couldn't say no to."

"Kakashi..."

"I didn't come just so you could lecture me or talk about me and her and what happened between us."

Minami grew impatient. "Kakashi... will you just--"

"I _don't_ want to talk about it. It's not relevant to--"

"Kakashi, shut the hell up!" Minami burst out. She slammed her chopsticks onto the countertop, snapping them in half. The tavern patrons turned around and stared at the source of the outburst. Minami completely ignored them as she berated him, "I'm paying for the bill, so the very least you could do is listen to what I have to say! You might think it's not important to _you_, but it's important to _me_, as Shizuka's best friend! You haven't seen her in the last seven years, so don't fucking tell me it's not important!"

"Minami," Kakashi coughed quietly. "People are staring."

"Eh?"

Minami turned slowly to look around. Everyone in the restaurant had stopped what they were doing to gape wordlessly at the two. A waiter forgot about the glass he had been filling, holding an empty pitcher with a mess of water and ice at his feet. It took some time for her to process why they were staring; when she realized why, she tipped her head, and apologized, very embarrassed, "S-Sorry for interrupting your meals. So sorry, so sorry, it was quite rude of me. So very very sorry."

Very red and flustered, she turned back in her seat. She began to speak to Kakashi again, this time more calmly and softer--when she saw that he was no longer there. Minami found it utterly frustrating... at the same time, she almost couldn't blame him for not wanting to listen to her.

--------------------------------------------------

Shizuka looked on nervously while Kotetsu held onto Aoi, who had fallen fast asleep in his arms. She turned to the village elders and the Hokage sitting in front of her, and her anxiety only increased. _No, Shizuka, this is not a good time to show how worried you are_, she warned herself. _I have to be assertive about this._

"I would like to have custody over my nephew, Hibashira Aoi."

Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu looked questioningly at each other. Before any of them could say anything, Tsunade stepped forward and declared, "Request denied."

"Tsunade!" chorused the two elders, glaring at the Godaime.

Koharu cleared her throat. "While your opinion on this matter is considered, whether or not Konoha will honor Hibashira-san's request will not be decided on your word alone."

Shizuka, however, acted as if the elder was not speaking and spoke over her, and asked, "I think I'm within my rights to ask why not."

Tsunade settled back against the armchair, cutting off the elders before they tried to speak again, "And, as your superior, I'm within my rights to not answer. Nevertheless, I'll explain the situation to you so--"

"Like we've already said, Tsunade," interrupted Homura, very impatiently, "please do not act as if the decision has already been made."

"Please excuse me, Mitokado-sama," Shizuka said, bowing her head, "but this is a matter regarding myself and members of my family. I would like to hear what Tsunade-sama has to say, and, until she has finished, I would greatly appreciate it if none of the elders interrupted. Onegaishimasu."

With heavy, irritated sighs, the three elders relented, much to Tsunade's pleasure. The blonde Hokage repeated, "I'll explain the situation to you so that when we end this meeting, we can understand each other. To begin, based on records that Nanakusa managed to retrieve, Aoi's abilities manifested only a month ago. Additionally, your aunt was able to prevent any release of this knowledge since then, so I believe we can be confident that the knowledge of his Bloodline limit is largely unknown. Despite this, I still believe that you becoming his guardian would be a dangerous course of action."

Shizuka challenged, "I don't understand. If so little is known about Aoi-chan, then why is it bad if I raise him? And, unless I don't know Nanakusa, she would have also prevented any sort of information about his disappearance from leaking as well. As for myself, as far as I know, most shinobi have no idea what's happened to me all these years. I could be dead for all they know. Based on that, I don't see the as much of a risk in my being a guardian as you believe there is."

"Have you forgotten _who_ you are, Shizuka?" Tsunade demanded. "You, my dear, have a large bounty on your head, as well as a reputation--a reputation for perseverance and wits, I might add. Even if you really were dead, it'd be hard to believe you'd let that happen to you. You still have headhunters running all over the country looking for you, did you know that?"

"I'm sure they've looked through Konoha already and realized that I haven't been here for ages."

"Shizuka, you are being stubborn and selfish," Tsunade snapped. "Do you really think you can keep yourself hidden in the village, especially when you won't be moving around as extensively as you had been for the past seven years? That's one of the reasons why I'd rather not see you as his guardian, even though you are his aunt. You're a danger to yourself and that danger could very possibly extend to him, if you are attacked in Konoha.

"There are two other factors that come into play." Tsunade raised her index finger. "The war that is going on right now: we've already established that you will return to service. Consequently, that will expose your whereabouts to bounty hunters. Even so, Konoha is ready to break its record in low manpower since the Third Secret World War and we need you in the battlefields. All qualified shinobi are actively participating in the war, with little rest in between missions. Given that kind of schedule, you can't think that you'll be home long enough to take care of your nephew adequately."

"The war won't go on forever," Shizuka insisted. "What will become of Aoi _after_ the war?"

"_That_ will be decided once the war ends," said Tsunade. She raised a second finger. "The second factor is the recent kidnappings. I don't know whether or not Kakashi told you what was going on, but I'll explain to you anyway. So far, among our allies, several families with Bloodline limits or secret techniques have had members go missing in between missions or they were taken directly from their home villages. Konoha has been fortunate enough that no one has been kidnapped, but we have been forced to take precautions. We've relocated the larger families with Bloodline limits or secret techniques throughout the village, rather than letting them live in their complexes for an all-you-can-kidnap buffet. Likewise, to protect Aoi and further his anonymity, for the time being, it's more prudent to keep him separated from you."

Shizuka contended hotly, "Well if it's going to become an 'all-you-can-kidnap buffet,' then wouldn't they want to kidnap the more valuable one? Even if Aoi _is_ with me, they won't take a two-year-old. It'll be me they take before him."

Tsunade glowered at the younger woman, frustrated by her obstinacy. She ordered, "Listen Shizuka, we don't know who has been doing the kidnappings or why they've been doing it. This is _not_ a good time and the only thing I can do is take precautions. If they've been able to capture shinobi, we're not just dealing with some petty criminals. If they want you, they could use Aoi as bait. If they don't want you because you're difficult to deal with, they'll take Aoi. Either way, they'll take him—I'm sure that's the last thing you'd want to happen to your nephew. You and Aoi are at extremely high risk since there's only two of you and your kekkei genkai is extremely powerful in terms of its destructive force; there will be people turning the countries upside down and inside out just looking for you.

"The last factor I already mentioned: you're a danger to yourself. Even if you do get custody of Aoi, what use are you if you've been dragged off dead to a checkpoint or if you've been captured? Konoha will watch over Aoi and provide everything the boy needs, and it'll free you up to worry about keeping yourself in one piece. And who knows, if you can do that, you can raise Aoi in the future."

Shizuka's eyes burned with the desire to continue arguing, but her mouth had no more words to say. Instead, she looked imploringly at the elders, hoping that they would overturn Tsunade. Sadly, it was not so.

Homura sighed heavily. "I'm sorry, Shizuka, but I'm afraid that I will have to agree with Tsunade-sama."

Koharu nodded her head sagely in agreement. The decision was made.

The brunette took a deep breath, a look of defeat on her face. She bit her lip, still searching for something to argue. She couldn't find it. She shook the tears about to well up in her eyes, and stood up. Bowing to the three in front of her, she accepted, "Very well then; I apologize for the trouble. Please excuse me."

"Shizuka!" Tsunade ordered just as she was about to leave. "Shizuka, remember, you're not the only one with a Bloodline limit in Konoha. _Everyone_ is fighting for Konoha, despite the risk it poses for them. We all want to protect our home and our families. I mean, I can let you visit Aoi, but I just can't allow you to raise him by yourself, especially when he won't have someone there half of the time."

Shizuka didn't say anything. Koharu added, "It is true that everyone is fighting. However, all the Bloodline limit clans have extra precautions in that they will be accompanied by at least one jounin and an ANBU member in a four-man team. That means, Shizuka, _you_ will not be working alone, like you used to. From now on, any missions you will go on will be with Hatake Kakashi and Yamato."

"Please excuse me."

Without another look at Tsunade, Koharu, or Homura, Shizuka walked solemnly towards the door and left.

As soon as the door clicked shut behind the brunette, the heavy air that had floated over the group dispelled, and all three inhaled deeply in relief. Tsunade grumbled, "That was too much."

There was a knock on the door. "It's Nanakusa-san," Homura said. He turned to the door. "You may enter."

The door opened with a slight creak and Nanakusa popped her head in, beaming at all of them. "So, I heard your little discussion. Good job, Tsuna--"

"Ayase Nanakusa, I am going to _kill_ you," Tsunade spat. She jabbed the air with her index finger. "You tell us to deny Shizuka's request for custody over Aoi, but you don't tell us what to _say_. You heard me, I was scrambling for excuses and that girl wouldn't stop poking holes in them!"

"Maa maa, Tsunade-hime, you're so mad that you're calling me by my full maiden name?" Nanakusa chuckled. "It wasn't that bad. She relented in the end, didn't she?"

"Nanakusa-san, it's not something to laugh about," Koharu scolded. She pulled out a manila folder, heavy with papers, from behind her, and held it out for everyone to see. "You gave us her medical records, which alone would have been substantial evidence to why you believed her unsuited for being his guardian. But I do not understand why we were not allowed to use this as our reason."

"_Because_," Nanakusa sang, "Shizuka would have seen my hand in it."

"Then let her see your involvement!" Tsunade complained. "Rather than make me wrack my brains for trumped up excuses."

"But they weren't excuses."

Homura joined in to harangue the redhead, "Excuses or not, you asked us to do this or that, but you don't give us a plan of action. And I'd like to know why Kakashi and Yamato have to be on her team, since you insisted on it so strongly."

"Because they're among the top jounin in the village, and I wouldn't want anything to happen to Shizuka. We might not be blood-relatives, but I do care about her."

"That's not a reason," Koharu shot back. "Nanakusa, there's something you aren't telling us. If I didn't know any better, I would say that you are a terrible aunt."

Nanakusa's face fell. She turned to the three, looking out the window. Shizuka had just left the building and was walking slowly down the main street. Nanakusa turned again, this time to look at the toddler still sleeping in Kotetsu's arms; it was amazing how heavily the child could sleep.

"You'd think it's silly, but I'll tell you anyway," Nanakusa admitted sadly, looking out the window again. "You all know that, growing up, Shizuka developed a lot of problems. Most--if not, all--of those problems still exist; she hasn't come to terms with any of them. If I hadn't given you her medical records, if I hadn't asked you to deny her request, she could have easily become Aoi's guardian--it would have been the most suitable thing to do since she is his aunt.

"However, unconsciously, she would have used him as a trade-off for her problems, something else to take their place in her head. Aoi doesn't deserve that. Before she takes on another responsibility, it's absolutely vital that she takes care of her responsibilities towards _herself_ by reconciling. The purpose in placing her with Kakashi and Yamato was because she has a history with the former--the latter would be there to keep them from killing each other."

Nanakusa turned back to Tsunade and the two elders. "I'm sorry for all the trouble I caused you. But please understand, Shizuka is like a daughter to me. If something happens to her in battle, the last thing I'd want for her is to die with regrets."

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**Author's Notes:** Wow, lots of dialogue in this chappie, eh?

Because it was suggested by a reviewer, I will include extra notes that elaborate on some of the things that viewers of the Naruto dub only would probably like to know. For instance, ANBU is known as the "Black Ops" in the licensed dubs/translations of Naruto.

// Kami-sama: God  
// senbon: That long metal needle that Genma is usually sucking on. Haku uses them as well.  
// -chan, -kun, -san, -sama: They're all honorifics. Aoi is usually called "Aoi-chan," because -chan is commonly used for young children. "-chan" can also be used when someone is addressing a significant other (usually the girl) or between family members and friends, as a term of affection. Minami has a habit of calling Kakashi with "-kun"; it's used between people who are friendly with each other, usually with boys. Shizuka is sometimes referred to by her name and the addition of "-san", which is used in more formal situations and between people who are less familiar with each other. -sama is more formal than -san, and generally used towards people who are of higher stature. There's tons more suffixes that can be used, but when someone uses no suffix, it can be rude depending on the situation. For instance, if you have two people who are not too familiar with each other, if one addresses the other without an honorific, it would be impolite. Calling someone their name with no suffix is usually used for family members, married couples, etc.--i.e. people who are very close to each other.  
// hakama: The things that the Shinigami wear in _Bleach._ xD I don't know how else to describe it; I'm sure if you Google a picture, you'll be able to find one. In modern times, men's hakama are usually worn for formal events--in Minami's case, a wedding.  
// furisode: A kimono with extra-long sleeves that are usually worn by girls to celebrate their coming of age (20 in Japan); they're also worn for major social functions, like weddings.  
// the red string of fate: Also known as the red string of destiny, it's a popular East Asian belief where everyone is said to be connected to another person by an invisible red string around their little finger. The person on the other end is said to be "the one" for them, similar to the Western idea of "soulmates."  
// Onegaishimasu: A very polite way of saying "please."  
// Maa maa: Now, now.


	7. About A Brunette

**Chapter 7.About A Brunette  
**There was a reason why shinobi wars were usually referred to as secret wars: for the most part, only the shinobi villages that participated knew of the fighting and they avoided battlefields near settlements as often as possible. Ninja refrained from attacking those settlements anyway; there was little benefit to murdering random civilians who knew nothing of village rivalries and conflicts. Morever, if they killed civilians, it would strain international relationships. As punishment, the feudal lords that sponsored the hidden villages would cut their funding.

So when a woman with milky white skin and a heavily tattooed man both stopped at a checkpoint between Tea Country and Fire Country, it drew attention from the ignorant civilians who had also stopped their for a rest. Had those civilians known of the things going on in the countryside, had they been shinobi, or seen them on a regular basis, the unusual features of the two travelers and their juxtaposition would have been less surprising. Shinobi tended to be some unusual characters.

The woman was an albino, an unusual beauty with snowy skin and hair. Her eyes were a vivid blood red that contrasted sharply against her skin. Depending on the angle one looked at her, the scarlet of her eyes would become tinged with the sky blue of her expensive-looking kimono.

Next to her cool elegance was her wild punkish partner, shirtless and proudly showing off the web of inky black tribal tattooes that covered his upper body. He was handsome in an avant-garde way, his face full of piercings--two small hoops in his left eyebrow, one stud in his right nostril, a snakebite and an unusual coil piercing on the right side of his lower lip, five piercings on his left ear, and four more on his right. Every so often, he would flip his head slightly, shaking a multicolored mess of blonde, brown, and black bangs out of his eyes, dark and forever burning with devil-may-care arrogance.

The stares the two received failed to faze either--after all, they were more than used to it, as it happened almost every time they made their presence known to normal people. And, in their case, anything other than natural behavior would risk exposing them.

For some time, the unusual pair sat tranquilly on the benches near the checkpoint's small food stand, eating and drinking cold soba noodles in aluminum packs and green tea. The man was in the middle of slurping up some soba noodles when something far away caught his eye. He nudged his partner's left arm with his elbow.

"O-Hime. Guess who it is."

"Kyouhei, stop, I'm trying to eat. I said, '_Stop it!_'" Benihime finally looked up from her tea, but instead of looking as displeased as she sounded, her face split into a calculating smile. "You should have said so."

A misshapen figure came over the summit of the hill north of them. As they drew nearer, it was revealed to be a man carrying a young girl with long curly black hair and golden eyes on his shoulders. The little girl looked up, and waved at the man. "Kyouhei-kun!"

Kyouhei raised a tattooed arm and waved back at the little girl, smiling gently. The albino woman frowned at the gesture, and sneered, "Why are you so fond of that little brat?"

"Chotto matte, O-Hime. Just because she doesn't like you and vice versa doesn't mean I share the same opinion of her as you." He stopped to finish the last bit of soba, then added, "And she's not half as spoiled as you are, O-Hime."

"How r--"

The "princess" was interrupted by the little girl, loudly asking for sweets. "Makoto-kun, I left my change purse at the Lord's house. Can I borrow some money to get some daifuku? I'll pay you back."

"Alright, just stop kicking, Ayanokoji."

The young man tipped his head to Kyouhei and the woman as he passed them on the way to the checkpoint's food stand. Of the four, he was the most "normal," with ordinary brown hair, ordinary blue eyes, and ordinary skin. If anything was unusual about him, it was the fact that he had the doll-like girl on his shoulders.

Several moments later, the young man sat down on the bench closest to Kyouhei, the top of his head covered in confectioners' sugar from the sweets he bought for the little girl. Ayanokoji hopped off of her partners' shoulders. "Ah... sorry sorry, Makoto-kun," she said sweetly, brushing off the top of his head. "I got too impatient."

Ayanokoji finished cleaning off the top of her partner's head, and greeted the other two. "Afternoon, Kyouhei-kun," she said. With a grimace, she turned to look at the albino woman, and hid behind Makoto. "Benihime-san."

She smirked. "What's with that tone, brat? You ought to respect your elders."

A vein twitched unpleasantly in the little girl's temple before she decided to blow a loud raspberry at Benihime, spraying sugar all over Makoto's cheek. Without even the smallest protest, he took one of the napkins that they'd picked up and wiped off of his right cheek.

Kyouhei chuckled at the pair, then mussed Makoto's hair. "You look out of sorts," he said jovially. "Having some trouble?"

Makoto looked up with an irritated glint in his eye, the first sign of any emotion that he had shown since he met with Kyouhei and Benihime. "'Some trouble?'" he drawled, running his hand through his hair. "You've got to be kidding me."

Benihime joined in their conversation, but with much more malicious intentions. "Ah... you haven't found your person yet, have you? But we were assigned our targets _months_ ago."

Ayanokoji already began fuming the moment the albino woman spoke, but Makoto shook his head at her. The last thing he needed was to attract anymore unnecessary attention, when some people were already staring at all of them, the strange group that they were.

Despite how uncalled for her sneers were, Benihime continued, even smiling at Ayanokoji's increasingly futile attempts to keep her temper in check. "Oh my, but I apologize. 'Targets' apply to the rest of us. Ayanokoji-chan and Makoto-kun have only _a_ target--whom they have failed to find, despite all the time that has passed."

"If we were only given one target to find, then that means he expected it to take a while and didn't want us wasting any time going after other people!" Ayanokoji argued.

"Then why are you sitting here, eating daifuku, Ayanokoji-chan?" Benihime asked with unctuous pleasantness. "You should be using this time to be looking for her. If I were looking for that Hibashira woman, I'd have already found her."

"O-Hime, if you wouldn't mind stopping," Kyouhei requested lazily. He picked up one of the skewers of takoyaki that had been sitting at his side and pulled two balls off with his teeth. His mouth full of food, he continued, "Anbagizging Mamomo an Ayago--"

"Speak clearly," Benihime snapped, appalled by his manners.

Kyouhei chewed for a few more seconds, swallowed, then repeated, "Antagonizing Makoto and Ayanokoji doesn't help us at all. If you want to speed up the search, then you could give them some tips on how to find her, instead of bitching and bitching, like you always do."

The albino didn't respond: she had no clues to give to them.

With a smile, her partner said, "I thought so." He turned to Makoto and Ayanokoji. "I can sympathize with you kids. Remember, I used to be a bounty hunter, and guess how much you-know-who had on her neck?"

Ayanokoji's eyes grew large with curiosity. "How much?"

Makoto answered flatly, "Twenty-eight million."

Kyouhei pretended to be angry. "Makoto, I was supposed to answer that question, and I would have made it much more dramatic. In any case, she's gained some notoriety when it comes to capturing her. I wouldn't be surprised if she was right under your nose and you didn't notice her. She's supposed to be an expert in stealth and disguise."

Ayanokoji didn't look at all happy with the additional information. The little girl beat her partner's shoulder with her fists and whined, "That doesn't help at all, and it just makes me think that we could have _spoken_ to her, and completely missed her."

"Unfortunately, that _is_ a possibility," Kyouhei admitted, flipping back his multi-colored bangs. "I gave up searching for her because of that. However, I did hear some interesting things recently."

"Please tell us," Makoto asked politely. "Any information on her would be helpful."

Kyouhei leaned towards them, shooing Benihime out of their conversation when she, too, leaned forward to listen. "I heard stories from an old lady about a gorgeous brunette..."

--------------------------------------------------

Shizuka bent backwards, and cracked her back. The multiple pops and snaps that came from it were somewhat sickening, but they relieved the brunette. Almost a week had passed since her return, and, in that week, she had spent most of her time cleaning up the manor she had left behind or playing with Aoi at the nursery, since she had been granted visiting rights.

Just then, she had finally put the final box of miscellaneous items in the attic. Her home was clean, finally free of all the dust and grime that had accumulated during her seven years of absence. The house, she quickly realized, was far too big for just one person to live in--and for that one person to clean, all by herself.

She cracked her neck as she came down the attic stairs, a little bit miffed. If Nanakusa could afford to save her the trouble of keeping the surrounding grounds polished and neat over the years, then the least her aunt could do was to do that for the house as well.

If she didn't know any better, it was the redhead's way of punishing her for leaving Konoha. Letting the plants in the garden grown amuck would have made the punishment cruel and unusual.

Shizuka stopped by the bathroom, and looked into it. The clean white tiles that she had spent hours scrubbing practically blinded her. "I think I'd like to take a bath now."

The prospect of a hot bath was an attractive one, since she could finally relax and ease her aching muscles. Cleaning was a bit of a workout, even for a kunoichi.

But, just as the tub filled up with steaming hot water... someone rang the doorbell.

The bath would have to wait.

"Coming, coming," Shizuka called as she came down the stairs, wiping her face off with a wet washcloth. She reached the door, and was surprised to find Yamato standing on her porch. "Ah? Tenzou... what are you doing here?"

Yamato bowed to Shizuka. He said quietly, "If you wouldn't mind, I'd rather you call me by my code name, Natsumi."

Shizuka laughed. "My, it's been some time since I used that name. I think I was eighteen or nineteen the last time someone called me that. But, very well, Yamato. What brings you here?"

"The Hokage has a mission for us. She says to come as you are."

Shizuka grumbled as she walked into the Hokage's office wearing her cleaning clothes while everyone else wore their standard uniforms. There were almost two dozen ninja there, and they were all milling around, waiting for the woman who sat usually sat behind the Hokage's desk. Shizuka tried not to draw attention to herself, but it didn't really work.

"Yo!" said a languid voice behind her, accompanied with a loud smack.

"Idiot!" Shizuka squeaked, whipping Genma in the face with her long ponytail as she whirled around. She grabbed his hand. "Pervert, that hurt! Is that how you greet people, by smacking their asses as hard as you can?"

Genma grinned, senbon moving up with the corners of his lips, and leaned over to say as quietly as he could over the hustle and bustle, "It can't hurt more than doing it backdoor, my dear."

Shizuka's mouth formed a scandalized "o," and she punched Genma's chest, popping open the clasps of the pockets on the top-right part of his vest and scattering scrolls and other miscellaneous items on the floor. She hissed, "Don't bring that up around here."

"But it's true, isn't it?" Genma teased. The two bent down to pick up the things that had fallen. "Nice outfit, by the way."

Shizuka wore an oversized blue men's shirt, baggy khaki cargos that were too long for even her legs, and a heinous orange kerchief to hold her hair back. A garbage bag would have looked better on her.

"Nice face," she returned.

"Back to you, hon," Genma said coyly. They had finished collecting his things, and Genma helped her up. "How about a date after this?"

Kakashi appeared out of nowhere behind Genma, and put his hand on his shoulder. His voice was strangely menacing as he warned, "Shizuka's going to be busy cleaning up her place until we leave, so I don't think she'll have the time."

Shizuka frowned at Kakashi, the corner of her lip twitching in anger.

If he wanted to pick a fight with her, then she'd give it to him. The brunette took a step forward towards Genma, and, standing on her tiptoes, wrapped an arm around his neck. In the same manner Kakashi had shut the Tokubetsu jounin down, Shizuka pushed Kakashi's head back with her index finger on the center of his forehead. "I would appreciate it if you stopped making decisions for me. I'm done cleaning my house anyway—so... _Genma_, I _can_ go on that date with you."

Shizuka made a point of looking at Kakashi as she nipped at Genma's ear with her lips. _If you want a war, then I'll give one to you._

The office door burst open, and in came Tsunade with her usual procession of Shizune and Tonton. The Hokage shouted over the din of shinobi, "Alright, alright, everyone settle down! Sorry for the wait, I had to check on some things with the hospital. Shizuka, if you wouldn't mind getting off of Genma; Genma, if you would remove your hand from under her shirt. I'd like to start the briefing right now."

The entire room turned to look at Genma and Shizuka, snickering as the two separated. Genma took longer than necessary to take his hand out from underneath her shirt, much to Tsunade's disgust. For good measure, Shizuka slapped the senbon-sucker across the back of his head; she hadn't even noticed that his hand had slid underneath her shirt until Tsunade pointed it out.

The Hokage cleared her throat and motioned for all of them to pay attention to her. "Now then, your next mission is to the border between Kaze no Kuni and Ame no Kuni. Sunagakure originally had sixty people in that area, but a recent battle with Tsuchi-nin cut their forces down by half. Because Suna's forces are spread very thin as it is, they asked that we send reinforcements. There are twenty—twenty-four of you here, so six platoons will be going as back-up."

Tsunade shuffled through her papers again. "Six platoons means six captains. Please step forward when I call your name. Hatake Kakashi. Yamato. Shirota Abe. Tanaka Hiroyuki. Asao Mayumi. Hibashira Shizuka. They will be the team captains. Under Kakashi's command will be..."

Eighteen names later, Tsunade finished up the briefing: "The overall leader of the Konoha forces will be Hatake Kakashi. The Suna forces are led by Kuroda Ai. One of the Suna platoons will rendezvous with you at the Kinyama Pass, then escort you to their encampment. All team leaders will meet with Kuroda when they arrive, and she will discuss the current situation with you. Kuroda doesn't know how long she'll need you there, but she says to expect to be there for at least a week, unless something happens--so pack your supplies accordingly, and be ready to leave at 0600 hours sharp tomorrow morning. Dismissed."

As promised, Shizuka was on her date with Genma some time after the briefing had finished, and, at that very moment, Genma was on his second beer at the sushi place they were having their date at. Shizuka joked, "You alcoholic, don't drink so much the night before a mission. You're on my team. I'll have to punish you if you're late and hungover tomorrow morning."

"I won't mind if you do that," Genma purred. He put down his beer and leaned closer to Shizuka. "What do you have in mind?"

"Not on the first date," Shizuka teased. Just then Kakashi and Yamato walked by the window of the sushi bar.

Kakashi caught a glimpse of a couple making out passionately through the window of a sushi bar. He walked off, shaking his head. "Jesus, Genma," he harangued to no one in particular. "He barely waits a minute before he's making out with—Yamato."

Yamato coughed in alarm. "Excuse me?"

Kakashi backtracked the last three steps. "What the hell are Shizuka and Genma doing in public?"

Yamato took one look. He deadpanned, "Kissing."

"I know that." Kakashi took another look. "Have they gone out before? Do people normally do that kind of thing right away, on the first date?"

"If you don't mind my saying," said a playful voice behind them. The owner clapped her hand on their shoulders, and popped her head in between them. It was Minami. "You're not one to talk, Kakashi. If my memory serves me correctly, you used to sleep with girls barely hours after you met them. Hey, Tenzou-kun!"

Yamato nodded and did his usual greeting of "Please call me by my codename."

"That's not the point, but it's Genma, for Christ's sake," protested Kakashi. "And don't tell me that's not the worst PDA you've--"

"I think you're just jealous that it's not you she's making out with," Minami singsonged. "And, again, don't talk because you used to do the same thing back then." She slapped their backs. "Don't get your panties in a bunch, boys. You have a big mission tomorrow. I'll buy you two dinner to see you off."

As the trio disappeared out of view, Shizuka and Genma separated, panting for breath. Genma called for the bill, and leaned forward to kiss her again.

Shizuka shook her head and pushed Genma away. His face fell, and he asked, "Is something wrong?"

"Genma, I'll pay my part of the bill. I'm really sorry about this."

As she searched through her wallet for the bills, Shizuka cursed at herself. She hated conscience for its terrible timing. It had a bad habit of making her feel guilty _after_ the deed was done, rather than preventing her from doing it in the first place. No matter how Shizuka looked at it, there was no way she could worm her way out of it: _she_ initiated the kiss, _she_ made sure that Kakashi had seen them doing it, _she_ got Genma involved in _her_ troubles...

_That's the kind of person you are, Shizuka?_

What made it even worse was that she'd be stuck with _both_ of them--Kakashi _and_ Genma—for at least the next week.

--------------------------------------------------

**Author's Notes:** Shizuka... is a bit of a bitch, I'm not going to lie.

The more I think about it, the more of an understatement it probably is. xD

It's no excuse, but... I suppose we all have our faults.

I can't make any promises, but I'm hoping to update this weekend. I have half of the next four chapters written; there's going to be a lot of action and other things going on.

// soba: buckwheat noodles  
// chotto matte: Hey, wait a minute.  
// O-Hime: It's kind of difficult for me to explain this, but "Hime" just a nickname Kyouhei uses for Benihime. "O-" is an outdated honorific used to address women of high position, dating back to the Tokugawa era. When Kyouhei adds the "O-," he only means it in a very sarcastic way to fit with his partner's high-and-mighty attitude.  
// daifuku: A Japanese sweet made out of rice cake and usually filled with some sweet filling, usually sweet red bean paste, but they can also be filled with pieces of fruit and a few other things. They're usually covered in some edible powdery substance, like corn starch or confectioners' sugar, to keep them from sticking to each other.  
// takoyaki: A Japanese dumpling made with octopus; in food stands, they'll put it on skewers.


	8. Their Soap Opera

**Author's Notes  
**So... I kind of broke my word. Okay, I_ did_ break my word, not just "kind of." These chapters are weeks overdue—and they're only half the chapters I originally promised.

Also, for translation and cultural notes, I've added "footnotes" at the end of each chapter with corresponding numbers so it's easier for everyone to refer to them. When I have more time, I'll do this for the rest of the chapters as well.

Anyway, I wanted to give special thanks to the reviewers who have reviewed; it's not a lot, so I'll only be giving review shout-outs every few chapters or so, depending on how many reviews that come along. (Probably won't be a lot, but that really doesn't matter.) Plus, I wanted to be able to respond to the reviewers, but sometimes I can't reach them, so I decided this might be a better way to do that.

**N1nj45tyl3: **Yes! Thanks for the first review! \m/

**Grimpond: **Hopefully, I'll keep writing things that you like! I'll do my best!

**Rune the Rambler: **XD I really don't mind how many reviews I have, but if there are people who can express their like of the story, that's good enough for me. I'll be sure to keep you hanging. P

**yanga: **I can't tell you how much I admire your endurance; reading six chapters straight of this! D Thanks so much for your support!

**Nova: **I'm continuing with the fic, as you requested. Hopefully I can keep it up—and I hope you still have the same amount of interest in it.

**Kilrath: **Yay, thanks! Detail is my specialty.

**Tsukashi and L.E. Death: **I thought it would be weird to put two different responses to both of you since I'd probably be saying the same thing twice. " But then again, I kind of feel bad lumping my reply to you together—in any case, I really appreciate your reviews! I'm really happy that you think that my writing is well-done (so far). I hope to continue to create a good, well-written story, as well as a dynamic OC who doesn't end up going the wrong way. D Thanks for your encouragement!

**taishorin: **I'll keep pressing on to finish this story and I'll do my best to keep it up and beyond your standards and my own!

Now, on with the recently commenced new arc of _Catharsis_! Banzai!

**Chapter 8.Their Soap Opera  
**"Sorry, I'm really sorry." Shizuka bowed and apologized over and over again to Genma as she backed clumsily out of the restaurant. No matter how many times she said she was sorry, it didn't do anything to eliminate the enormous weight she felt. "I'm really sorry."

For several seconds, Genma sat at the sushi bar, flabbergasted, and his hand frozen over his wallet. It didn't take him a long time to figure out exactly what to say or do before he charged out of the restaurant after Shizuka, who was several buildings away from the restaurant by the time he reached the door.

"Oi! Shizuka! Wait a minute, will you?" Genma panted as he ran after the brunette. To his dismay, she sped up, breaking into a run by the time she reached the end of the block. Genma double over at the corner, clutching a stitch in his side. "Jesus Christ... she's freaking fast, not to mention a crapload of trouble... Shizuka! Hold on a minute will you?!"

Shizuka didn't look back, but shouted ahead of her, "Stop running after me will you?"

"I'll stop running after you if you stop!" Genma yelled back.

"That doesn't mean anything!"

Their shouted conversation ended there, and, for the next hour, Konoha was graced with the most ridiculous cat-and-mouse chase it had ever witnessed. Anything else that came out of them was Shizuka screaming as she raced down one street after the other, and Genma bellowing back, "Will you just stop running?!"

("Geez," Kakashi muttered into his bowl of rice. Even inside a restaurant, he could hear the racket outside. "Who's making all that noise outside?"

Minami shrugged and prodded Yamato to hand her the platter of spareribs. "Just ignore it, ne? Eat, eat!")

"Kami-sama, will you just stop running!" Genma bellowed. "Sooner or later, I'll catch up to you!"

"I'll stop running if you stop chasing me!" Shizuka gasped. She didn't want to admit it, but Genma probably was going to catch up to her pretty soon, with her stamina wearing down quickly. She was a sprinter, not a marathon runner.

As far as they knew, they had already covered more than half of Konoha's roads before Shizuka ran off of the main roads towards the outskirts of the village. She slid on a patch of grass as she turned a corner, throwing her off her pace. Genma burst forward, and just as she recovered from the slip, he grabbed her by her shoulders.

"Oi, Shizuka! What... what the hell was that all about?" Genma panted, hand clutching his side. "You start something and suddenly you try to run away from it. No one can fucking tell what you're thinking. That's why any relationships you've ever had never work out in the end."

"That has nothing to do with it!" Shizuka retorted, hastily brushing Genma's hand off of her shoulder. "It has nothing to do with any of my past relationships!"

Genma sat down on his haunches, his hand over his face. A moment later, he looked up and asked, "It's about Kakashi, isn't it?"

Shizuka opened her mouth to protest, but he interrupted her, "The more you deny it, the more likely it's true... You're a terrible person. I didn't think you'd sink that low."

More than anything, Shizuka wanted to walk away, leave Genma there without an answer. Her legs wouldn't move though; for once, her conscience held her in place and didn't let her compulsiveness take over.

Having managed to catch his breath, Genma pushed himself back up onto his feet and took Shizuka's hand. "Let's go back. I'll buy you a drink. In return, you can give me an explanation."

For the first time in a while, the night passed by rather quickly as she spent it giving Genma the explanation he wanted.

He listened to her without cutting in. He dealt with her questions, both rhetorical and literal with common-sense answers so simple that Shizuka could not understand why _she_ had not thought of the same thing in the first place. He carefully pointed out all of the irrationalities that she uttered, but otherwise, he didn't judge her.

Though, frankly, he did become very exasperated by her selfishness, which peppered their conversation.

It seemed that before long, Genma was escorting her home. When they reached the door of her large house, wry as ever, Shizuka joked, "My my, one minute you're smacking my ass, the next you're escorting me home. Make up your mind, are you a dog or are you a man?"

Genma thought for a moment. Finally he decided on, "Let's just say I'm the hottest motherfucker out there."

Shizuka snorted, "Just when I was starting to think you weren't such an idiot..." She smiled appreciatively at him. "Well then, good night. Thank you for the escort home."

"Anytime, _taichou_," Genma replied with a two-fingered salute, a hint of teasing in his voice. "Listen, don't do anything as bad as you did tonight, okay? If you need to talk to someone, then talk—I'm always willing to help out a damsel in distress." 1

("You did not just say that...")

"See you tomorrow, Shizuka."

With another little flick-slash-salute, Genma ambled down the path to the front door, shaking his head ever so slightly. The honest, complete truth of the matter was that the entire time they spent together was nothing more than a waste of time, through and through.

So Shizuka had told him her little issues, but it didn't mean that she actually communicated—she just said words. So Genma had not seen her for seven years—the same amount of time everyone else in Konoha had not seen her—but he knew that people, especially _stubborn_ and _selfish_ people like her, did not change easily, and he had known her for some time before those seven years.

After speaking to her, anyone's initial impression would have been that she actually listened to the person to whom she spoke. She showed all the signs: she knew what the other person said and could recite it word for word, she noted their gestures and body language, and looked appreciative when people gave her advice or consolation. If Genma had to say so himself, it was a very good acting job.

But it was exactly that: an act.

If Shizuka spoke to anyone about herself, ninety-nine point nine percent of the time, she was only speaking to that person strictly with the (usually futile) intent of relieving herself of whatever pressure was bothering her. "Usually futile" meant that even after talking, Shizuka's conscience was never cleared. Genma found it mind-boggling that even Minami, Shizuka's best friend, could not even reach her.

Genma made a sharp clicking noise with his tongue out of irritation. _That woman is impossible to figure out_, he grumbled to himself. _Whether or not you can relate to her, she's still difficult to understand. _

It wasn't just Genma who found her incomprehensible—Shizuka herself could not completely understand why the acted or did things the way she did.

Steam filled the bathroom as she began what would be her second bath that day. She needed the bath, not because she smelled bad or because she was sore, but because the bathtub was the only place she could simply sit around and _not worry_ about anything.

Or at least... it used to be.

Even while she soaked, one concern after the other plagued her. Was Aoi asleep by now? (He damn well better have been; toddlers needed their rest; she didn't know—nor did she want to know—how much more toddlers would fret and whine if they didn't get enough sleep.) Did she lock the door after she went inside the house? (But most people in Konoha had no reason to rob each others' houses, so why worry?) And supplies, did she have everything she needed already in the house? (Hopefully, she did. She didn't want to bother anyone in some ungodly hour of the morning to get the things she should have picked up once her return to service was confirmed.)

Forget about the little things, what about Genma? Did he really believe her and was he honestly forgiving her for dragging him into her spiteful little schemes? (She wouldn't have blamed him if he resented her for it; she would have too, if she were in his place.)

But, what was more important than what Genma thought of her was what Shizuka thought of herself: did she really believe everything that came out of _her own_ mouth?

Yes. Everything. Down to the last cross of a "t" and dot of an "I."

And it was frightening.

Shizuka believed in _everything_—including all of the faults that she had implicitly listed to Genma. It was the fact that she knew them so well that it was terrifying.

Even more so was that she knew them _all_... but she had no idea or courage to fix them all.

It was like living in a nightmare.

Her worries kept her up all night. By morning, she looked well-rested and would have felt it... if she didn't have a pounding headache from the fatigue.

Half-asleep, she groped around the travel pack she had prepared for the mission in search of her clothes. Where were they? Did she really not put them by her bags?

Outside, someone picked the lock of her window, and swung it open with a loud bang. "O-ha-you, Shizuka-chan!"

"... Really, Shizuka, you're quite sexy, even when you can't concentrate properly. Watch out, now." A perky woman with strawberry blonde hair pulled Shizuka back onto the road, preventing her from walking into a ditch. "But sexiness doesn't really help if you're completely—" Once again, she steered Shizuka away from a road obstacle, this time a deep puddle. "—completely out of it. Get a grip, hon. You're a squad captain and you have an entire mission ahead of you."

Even though the woman was holding onto Shizuka's wrist, the brunette still teetered off to the side of the road, and barely missed a mound of dog poo in the road.

"Shizuka," groaned her companion, maneuvering the brunette this way and that. "Come on. Wake up, Shizuka. Dog crap all over your shoes isn't hot at all, even if it's you. It most certainly would never complement that outfit of yours."

The person who had entered Shizuka's room earlier had been Reina, who helped her find the clothes that Shizuka could not find, and helped dress her. Otherwise, Shizuka would have put her shirt on backwards and accidentally choked herself on the halter that helped hold it up by her shoulders. She wore a form-fitting, ballet-necked top with a halter to keep it from slipping off of her shoulders; it was a deep pinkish-red shade. Her long legs were highlighted with a pair of skinny black pants, and knee-high flat leather boots with buckles on the side.

"Reina," Shizuka moaned, holding her head. "What... what time is it...? The sun hasn't even started to rise."

Reina let out a short, bitter laugh. "You can blame Bakashi, for that." 2

"Bakashi?" Shizuka repeated. Was Reina talking about Kakashi?

"Yeah," Reina muttered, hooking her elbow around Shizuka's to keep the sleepy brunette within arm's reach. "He called a team captains' meeting at the very last minute. He actually came over forty-five ago to tell me, and he asked me to tell you and the others to get your things together, since you're not a morning person. But neither am I..."

"Why did he call a meeting so friggin' early?" complained the brunette. "He's only going to be more than thirty minutes late to his own meeting."

"Surprise surprise," Reina shrugged. "Ah!"

The strawberry-blonde woman paused before a closed shop before pulling Shizuka back with her to the unusually lively looking café behind them. "My mother and father offered to make all of the captains breakfast at their café. Everyone else is there already there it seems."

The bells on the double doors rung as the two women entered, and were greeted by three other sleepy yawns. Shizuka dropped her bags on the floor, and tottered over to the countertop to plop down on the stool next to Yamato.

"Why...?" she complained. "Why did that moron call a meeting at the last minute...? If he wanted to have a captains' meeting he could have called one once we got into Kaze no Kuni, as opposed to this ungodly hour. That selfish, inconsiderate moron..."

As all the captains had predicted, Kakashi sauntered in more than half an hour late—forty-two minutes, to be exact—with a casual "Yo!" The tired group had been betting on who could guess how long it would take for Kakashi (or, Bakashi, as Reina affectionately called him) to arrive over the breakfast Reina's parents prepared for them. Shizuka won the bet, guessing exactly forty-two minutes, and three captains each grudgingly handed over fifty-ryou notes to the brunette (Yamato had passed the offer to join the betting).

Reina stormed over to Kakashi and smacked him across the back of his head with a rolled up newspaper. "Bakashi!" she yelled, much more active than she had been in the last few minutes. "You wake me up an hour too early for this, and then you come almost forty-five minutes to your own fucking meeting! Moreover, I've lost fifty ryou because of you!"

"Is that the way you talk to your captain?" asked Kakashi nonchalantly. "I got lost on the road—"

"Road to what?" demanded Reina, bouncing slightly on her toes so she could look at him eye-to-eye. "You'd come to my parents' place every morning when you were a kid. There's no way you can get lost."

Meanwhile, the other two captains that had participated in the bet—Shirota Abe and Tanaka Hiroyuki—booted Yamato out of his seat so they could talk to Shizuka and complain over their losses to her. "It's not fair, Shizuka-chan," whined Hiroyuki, pounding the countertop and causing the dishes on it to jump up. "You know Kakashi-sempai down to his very last cell because you two dated for so long."

Shizuka rapped the top of Hiroyuki's head sharply with the ends of her chopsticks, and said pointedly, "We're not dating anymore. That ridiculous soap opera ended seven years ago."

Reina stopped bickering with Kakashi, and she and Yamato both looked at him, concerned. The copy-nin had no reaction to it; he shrugged and dropped his bags to join the rest of them at the counter—even asking Abe to go back to his original seat so he could sit next to Shizuka.

Even with his mask, the five other captains saw that he was positively _beaming_ when he asked Shizuka with unusual exuberance, "You look very good today, Shizuka. Are you excited for the mission?"

From the look on the others' faces, they could all agree that the mission would be... well, it would either be a very interesting or very frightening drama.

An hour later—and more than half an hour after the planned starting time—Kakashi had explained the preliminary plans, and the teams had assembled together at Konoha's gates, ready to leave. Tsunade fumed angrily over their tardiness, while Kakashi brushed them off as if they were bits of dirt on his shoulder.

"Alright, alright, everyone is set, for the tenth time!" Tsunade snapped. "Just go already! Time's a-ticking; keep it up, and you won't leave for another _week_!"

"Hai, hai, Hokage-sama." Kakashi looked up lazily, rubbing the back of his head as he pretended to think. "Eto… it's probably about time that we got going... Then, we'll leave as planned. Tanaka, you can start us off."

"Roger, taichou."

One team after the other, four shinobi each, set off after each other like synchronized swimmers in the air. Some distance away, a pair of binoculars followed each group avidly, stopping when the lenses finally met with the fourth group, led by pretty brunette.

"Kyaaaa, so Kyouhei was right! She's here, she's here!" squealed Ayanokouji, excitedly. If it had not been for Makoto, who sat next to her on the tall tree branch that they were situated in, the little girl would have tumbled more than seventy-five feet below to the forest floor because of her bouncing on the branch.

"Look, Matoko," Ayanokouji gushed, handing her partner the binoculars. "She's absolutely perfect. Do you think the Lord will let me have her once he's finished with his project?"

Makoto coughed, slightly surprised. Even though he had worked with Ayanokouji for a long time and knew of her circumstances, it was still strange to hear her, a woman stuck in the body of a young girl, say that she wanted the brunette that he was looking at through the lenses.

But, he could see why. Hibashira Shizuka had a dancer's body: long, lean, and graceful, curves and steel. Even though she was a shinobi, her skin looked unmarred by combat; creamy and smooth, like porcelain.

Her beauty was useless to them from a distance. If either of them hoped to accomplish anything, they had to capture her.

"Ayanokouji, we're going to follow them."

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**Translation/Cultural Notes  
**1. taichou: Captain—it is also used as one of the many honorific suffixes, like "Kakashi-taichou."  
2. Bakashi: I couldn't help but do a play on words for Kakashi's name. XD Baka is "idiot" and if you replace the first "ka" in Kakashi's name with "ba" it becomes "Bakashi."


	9. Responsibility

**Author's Notes:** Leaving things for the future again. I can't unravel characters all at once, that's too sudden. XP I've been heavy on drama lately, but I promise to bring in more action in upcoming chapters. That's one thing I can promise. How often I can update, I've figured out I _can't_ make promises on that.

**Chapter 9.Responsibility  
**The three-day journey to Suna was surprisingly uneventful, despite them crossing over several areas that were said to be hostile. While it was rather boring, it was good for them and the Suna forces that greeted them at the Ginyama Pass several miles away from the encampment that was their destination.

The leaders of the two cells that rendezvoused with the Konoha forces stepped forward and greeted Kakashi with a bow. "Hatake Kakashi-taichou," said the taller of the two, a woman with short black hair. She tipped her head at him in recognition. "Hayami Azusa. This is my fellow captain, Nikaido Teru. We'll escort you to our camp from this point."

Kakashi offered his hand. The woman looked at it for a moment, clearly recognizing the gesture, but outright ignored it. The gesture had been a mistake. Kakashi chuckled, embarrassed that he made such an error, and continued, "Right then. Ah... Daruma-san?"

Without missing a beat, the Suna captain answered, "Daruma-san ga koronda." 1

"That's good, you're exactly who you say you are if you know that," Kakashi said. "Captains, please step forward when I call your name. Yamato. Tanaka Hiroyuki. Shirota Abe. Asao Reina. Hibashira Shizuka."

At the mention of Shizuka's name, Azusa stared at the brunette, the look in her eyes incomprehensible. Was it sympathy? Was it fear? Was it loathing?

The connection between their eyes only lasted for a few moments, before Kakashi called for Azusa's attention. "We're a little bit late, so would you like to leave right now? You can tell me anything you need to tell me on the way to the site."

"Yes, that's fine," Azusa replied. "Teru, can you take the rear? I'll take the front with Hatake-taichou, and I'll explain the situation to him on the way there."

Nikaido Teru complied, by was stopped by Azusa, who beckoned him to come close. While she whispered something into his ear, she stared at Shizuka again, that unfathomable look in her eye as she glared at her out of the corner of her eye. Teru looked reproachful as he replied to her, he too looking over at Shizuka. Azusa repeated whatever she had told him, more firmly this time judging by the expression on her face. With the final warning, the other captain gave up, almost sullenly retreating back to his team.

"Provided nothing happens to us, the rest of the journey should only take a few hours—four, at the maximum," Azusa explained. "We asked you to meet up with us at this pass so we could bring you to the encampment without a high chance of being discovered or spied on. We'll lead you there. Teru-san, I'll leave now."

"Hai, hai," Teru sighed, clearly unhappy with being ordered around by Azusa.

The Ginyama Pass was a long stretch of rocky landscape, covered with desert plants like cacti and low-lying shrubs. Compared to the scorching temperatures of the hot desert region they exited late the previous night, the mountainous desert gap was much cooler and much more bearable. However, what the pass lacked in climate, it compensated with the landscape, and the Konoha shinobi went through it with some difficulty.

"Are you alright, Hatake-taichou?" Azusa asked as they went over a particularly steep rise. She offered her hand to help him up, then withdrew it and ordered someone else to stop and pull him up over a ledge.

"Is this the most difficult part of the journey?" Kakashi wondered, taking his headband off to wipe the sweat off of his brow.

"More or less," replied Azusa with a hint of a smile. She turned to look at the group behind them; the first thing that caught her eye was her fellow captain, Teru, chatting amicably with Shizuka, and the trace of any smile vanished immediately.

Azusa asked Kakashi, "That squad leader—the pretty one with the violet eyes. You said her name was Hibashira?"

"Yes. Hibashira Shizuka. Is something wrong?"

The dark-haired woman shook her head. "No, I just thought it was strange since Hibashira-san possesses a kekkei genkai, does she not? No one in Konoha's been kidnapped yet, but you'd think you would want to protect your special clans and restrict their movements?"

Kakashi answered, "We do want to protect them, so we've assigned certain shinobi to always accompany clan members on missions and such. For example, Yamato and I are assigned to act as Shizuka's 'bodyguards,' in a sense. Restriction of movement was a proposed measure to protect them as well, but it would be suicide since we're spreading our forces quite thin as it is."

"I see. So Hibashira-san would be your responsibility then?"

Kakashi was slightly perplexed. Why was Azusa asking this? "Yes..."

"She would be your highest priority?"

"Yes... she would. Why do you ask, Hayami-taichou?"

"I was just wondering."

Maybe it was just Kakashi, but for the rest of the journey, Azusa's inquiry about Shizuka bothered him. What was she so concerned about?

It was only in the last hour, when the sun had finally set, his worries left him for the time being. They finally saw a light glittering through a wall of craggy rocks—they were drawing near the campsite. He had other things to concern himself with—especially working with the gorgeous blonde woman that met them once they passed through the rock and sand walls into a well-lit clearing lined with tents.

"Konoha nin! It's about time you got here, you slowpokes!"

A blonde woman approached the group, grinning from ear to ear, and introduced herself: "I'm Kuroda Ai, commander of the Sunagakure forces here. Yoroshiku. I'll brief all of you later tonight on all the details, but in the meantime, please get something to eat. There's plenty since we got more supplies earlier this morning, so make yourselves at home." 2

Yamato looked away, somewhat exasperated, as Kakashi dismissed the Konoha forces. Their men swarmed around two things: the food that had been brought out for them and the blonde captain, Kuroda Ai. Admittedly, she seemed far more interested in Kakashi than in his subordinates. Kakashi remained his detached self, but anyone who knew him knew that there was more to him and Ai's interest in him.

Shizuka walked up next to Yamato, gazing dispassionately at the distance between Ai and Kakashi. She tittered coolly, "Ara ara ara. One of Kakashi's conquests, I presume?" 3

Yamato swallowed and nodded.

He could not understand why Kakashi liked the women he liked. Sure, Shizuka, Minami, Ai, and whoever else the infamous copy-nin set his sights on were all beautiful, with bodies of lingerie models: slender, leggy women with enviable curves. Those women all had long, impossibly silky hair of some rich color, pouty lips, sculpted features, beautiful skin, and a permanent, smoldering "come hither" look in their eyes.

As beautiful as they were, the type Kakashi liked were multi-faceted and complex. While they were charming and outgoing, they were also quite guarded and mysterious. They were a mix of sweet and poison: one would think they would be the last people to claw someone's eyes out in a fight, but they would do it without hesitation--and without breaking a nail. They would help others without a question, but they would argue an issue into its grave, until they got what they wanted or—God forbid—had to make some sort of compromise.

What defined them was an unusual quirk. Shizuka was unreadable and a mystery to even Kakashi. Minami used to be a hopeless romantic who possessed a cunning only matched by her mother's. And Ai?

Ai was simply a blonde bombshell: blonde hair, golden skin, piercing blue eyes... and, if the rumors were true, she apparently had a voracious sexual appetite.

The description hit the bull's eye. Anyone could have figured it out, it was so obvious. Already, Ai had marked her target, and her plans for him were in motion. Shizuka noticed it too, and she walked away with Reina, an impassive expression on her face.

Yamato _hated_ how he could never tell what Shizuka was thinking. Did she care? Was she pissed and jealous as he found women tended to be about "their" men, even if those men were exes? Or did she simply not care since she had Kakashi for almost four years, compared to the one night that Kuroda Ai had Kakashi?

"_I'm assigning you and Kakashi to protect Shizuka while you're out on missions. The two of you should know what to do."_

Why did he have to work with _both_ of them? If he could be so bold, Yamato thought that the assignment description was a half-lie. It was more like, "Protect Shizuka while you're out on missions. And keep her and Kakashi from killing each other if the situation calls for it."

Luckily the situation didn't arise—yet. (Without a doubt, Yamato had a feeling that they were saving the blows for another time.) Even during the captain's meeting after their dinner, Shizuka didn't say anything to argue with him. To his surprise (and the surprise of every Konoha-nin there), Shizuka quietly agreed to everything Kakashi proposed if it had to do with her—but maybe it was only because she was tired from the long journey.

Then again, it couldn't have been that if she could argue with Azusa, who called her out for playfully flirting with Teru and another young Suna captain after the end of the meeting.

The short-haired woman glared at the brunette as she stood up, effectively ending the arm-wrestling match between her and the other captain. Shizuka smiled, and objected, "It's only a bit of fun, Hayami-san. I'm not doing anything to 'interfere' with them."

"Your very presence is interfering with our mission," Azusa returned. "Instead of focusing solely on the defense of Kaze no Kuni, now we have to split our attention with protecting _you_ as well because of the kidnappings that have been going on."

Teru demurred, "Oi, Azusa, relax a little, will you? We're the ones who approached her first, yell at us if you have to."

"Teru, you're not a part of this. Moreover, it's only natural that you'd defend her since you just want to get some ass." Azusa crossed her arms tightly against her chest and continued to glower at Shizuka. "I don't appreciate the fact that you're here distracting us."

Shizuka straightened up, as if to make it known to Azusa that she had no intention of bending to the other woman's will. Very calmly, she said, "Do I really come off as some slut? I hate that... In any case, I'm not here for sex, so you can pull that stick out of your ass. What do you have against me? You've been giving me the evil eye since we met you and Teru-san in the pass."

"You're _in the way_."

Shizuka crossed her arms, and shifted her weight on her legs so her hip jutted out. An icy edge to her voice, she challenged, "How so?"

Azusa took a few steps closer to the brunette, smacking her palm on the table when she was two feet away from her. "You're in the way just by being here. Go home."

"Azusa, stop it!" Ai marched over to stand in between Azusa and Shizuka. She pleaded to her comrade, "What's the matter with you?"

Azusa only talked over the Suna commander, walking around her so she was face to face with Shizuka. "Just because you're a little bit pretty, don't think I'm like the guys that you've already charmed. Cover up your fucking tits, they're hanging out like you have melons attached to your chest and you're distracting my men. I'm not going to accept you just because you're a little bit pretty."

Offended, Shizuka wrapped her arms more around her chest. What did that have anything to do with it? For the record, she wasn't as naked as Azusa made her sound, as if she were falling and spilling out all over the place. Her breasts were _covered_, any skin that was shown was the area from her collar bone to the point where her arms extended from her shoulders. The accusation was unjustified.

To say the least, she was _pissed_, and, poison lacing her words, she replied, "I'm sorry but my breasts have nothing to do with this. If you're just pissed because yours are like mosquito bites, you can argue with me about it in a more appropriate place. Anyway, you haven't answered my question."

"Who says I have to answer to you? Just go home, you shouldn't be here."

"Says who?"

"It doesn't matter, just leave! I don't care if your Hokage assigned you on this mission; she chose the assignments carelessly, without thinking about the condition we're in."

"Now you've done it."

Shizuka cracked her knuckles threateningly—and cracked a sharp punch across Azusa's jaw. There was a rumble of footsteps as the other captains stepped forward, wary of a fight.

Advancing, Shizuka continued, "You bitch—insulting me is one thing, insulting the Hokage is a completely different matter. You have a problem with_ me_, so don't get other people involved."

"It'll make your life and everyone else's a lot easier if you just leave. We can replace you. So hurry up and go already."

"_I haven't done _anything_ to you_," Shizuka growled. "What's your problem?"

To the shock of the Suna-nin, Azusa picked herself up, and immediately returned the punch with a sharp slap across Shizuka's cheek, then took her jaw, squeezing her face unpleasantly. "We need Konoha-nin for support, but not if they're paying more attention to you than to an ally. Taking away attention from the main goal is exactly the reason why our forces were wiped out in the last battle. I might not be the commander of the forces here, but anyone wouldn't want that to happen. If anything happens, you had better take responsibility for it."

Azusa practically threw Shizuka aside before marching to the tent's entrance. Just as she reached the other side, she glared at Shizuka once more, and added bitterly, "I'm sure you won't have a problem with that, taking responsibility for the lives lost because of you—I mean, you must be used to it. You've already taken care of your mother's death, and the rest of your old team's. The loss of a few people completely unrelated to you can't be any worse than that, can it?"

_Deep scarlet camellia petals raining down..._

The world seemed to freeze. Shizuka lost all sense of existence, who was there, where she was, who she was. Why did she feel so heavy? Why did her chest hurt? Why did her own breathing sound like banshees were screaming all around her?

_It was so hot, it was burning..._

She didn't even know what she was doing.

_A tree trunk painted red..._

Her fist connected to a jaw, but her brain didn't process the action. Someone walloped her in return, but the pain that resulted stopped short of her nerves. She was pushed down, that same someone yanking her long hair. Her fist hit something again...

Kakashi and Yamato dove into the scuffle, yanking Shizuka away as soon as Azusa tumbled back from the blow to her chin. Teru quickly used a Temporary Paralysis Jutsu on the still spitting snake of a woman; holding her back would have been impossible.

Ai shoved her way through the fray, clearing a path for Kakashi and Yamato to carry Shizuka out of the tent. "We have to get her to the medical tent right away," Ai ordered desperately. "She—"

The brunette went limp, and slumped down. Kakashi caught her, his visible eye dilated with worry. He shook her as she stared off into space, yelling, "Shizuka! Get a grip! You didn't do anything!"

In Kakashi's hands, with the way she was at that very moment, Shizuka was like a rag doll, bending too easily to the forced movement, completely unresponsive. Her eyes were blank, gaping at a horror scene that Ai, Kakashi, and Yamato could not see.

_Screaming. A woman was screaming. It was so hot. Her entire body was in pain, and the pain only grew with each passing moment. There were giants all around them, their black silhouettes looming underneath a blinding white light._

"I didn't do it."

_Red standing out against the green grass, deeper than the petals that accompanied it. A loud thud—the wind was knocked out of her. The silk was soaked, cold and wet. A white hand streaked with shining blood reached behind, hiding her, pressing her into the tree trunk as if she could push her inside it._

"I didn't do it."

_Covered in dirt. Crawling over to the shattered body at the foot of the tree trunk. A pair of wide, lifeless brown eyes gaped back at her. When she touched him, his body was cold. When she spoke, he didn't answer. When she looked at him, he could only stare back._

"I DIDN'T DO IT!"

Kakashi almost choked when Shizuka suddenly returned to the world, clutching his vest for dear life. Tears streaming profusely down her cheeks, she sobbed, "I didn't kill them! I didn't do it! It wasn't my fault! It wasn't my fault!"

The only thing Kakashi felt he could do was let her cry. He pulled her in, her sobs muffled as she buried her face in his chest. Yamato could only watch, his chest in pain.

Ai's chest heaved as she played witness: Shizuka was a sobbing heap, Kakashi held onto her, Yamato looked on with regretful comprehension. Her voice cracked as she repeated softly, "We have to bring her to the medical tent."

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**Translation/Cultural Notes  
**1. "Daruma-san?" // "Daruma-san ga koronda?": As some of you may have figured out, the "password" given to determine identities amongst the Konoha and Suna forces. I never really established that, but I figured it would be a given that they would have checks to make sure. Anyway, "Daruma-san ga koronda" is the phrase spoken by the person who is "it" in the traditional Japanese game of the same name, which is similar to the American red light-green light game. It means "The Daruma doll fell down." You can look up the game and Daruma dolls on Wikipedia, since it's too tedious for me to explain it myself. XD  
2. Yoroshiku: Something like, "Pleased to meet you." There's a million ways to translate this.  
3. "Ara ara ara": My, my, my.


End file.
